Blake advances as Haas falls in Houston

Tommy Haas relinquished his place in the world top 10 after crashing out of the US Clay Court Championships, while James Blake battled into the last four with a hard-fought victory over Argentinean Juan Monaco.

Blake recorded a 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-6 (10-8) triumph over the eighth seed, while Haas suffered a straight sets quarter-final defeat by Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

World number nine Blake looked on course for a third straight sets victory of the week following earlier wins against American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov and Davide Sanguinetti.

But Monaco, the world number 52, surged into a 3-0 second set lead before taking the contest to a decisive set with four breaks of the Blake serve.

The American responded in the third and edged a tight tie-break to set-up a meeting with Argentinean qualifier Mariano Zabaleta in the last four.

Zabaleta, who beat defending champion Mardy Fish in the second round, booked his place in an ATP semi-final for the first time since 2005 with a 6-1 6-2 victory over 2006 finalist Jurgen Melzer.

Big-hitting Croat Karlovic needed just one break of serve to record the 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 victory in one hour and 37 minutes and claim his third career victory against the third seeded Haas.

Karlovic, who disposed of German sixth seed Benjamin Becker in the opening round, came into the tournament as the lowest ranked player at 108 after a knee injury during the 2006 season limited the 28-year-old to just five tournament appearances.

With the loss, Haas is set to slip out of the world top 10 on Monday, with British number one Andy Murray breaking into the world’s elite for the first time.

Haas, the current number 10, had to reach the semi-finals of the Championships to stay above Murray, who is ranked 11th at present.

Karlovic will meet world number 84 Albert Montanes in the last four after the Spaniard converted three of 11 break opportunities to defeat American Vince Spadea 6-4 6-4.

Montanes, who reached the semi-finals in Vina del Mar earlier this year, will look to reach his fourth ATP final. His last appearance in a title match came against Rafael Nadal two years ago in Acapulco.