The top four seeds, Djokovic, Tsonga, Berdych and Monfils have advanced to the Thailand Open semifinals for the first time since 2004 (Federer, Roddick, Safin, Srichaphan).

Novak Djokovic defeated sixth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling 6-4, 7-5, while a second-seeded Tsonga got past eighth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2 on the hardcourts at Impact Arena.

"I knew it would be a difficult match and I was prepared for that," said Djokovic. "He's a good powerful player. I knew they key was my first serve percentage and getting a lot of returns back."

"I'm very happy with my game today," said Berdych. "I knew that he was playing very good tennis having some good wins this week. I'm looking forward to the semifinals; it's always nice to be able to play a match at that stage of a tournament."


Novak will meet third-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in Saturday's semifinals, while Tsonga will battle fellow rising Frenchman Gael Monfils. Berdych defeated France's Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, while the Monfils, seeded fourth this week, bested German Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

"I'm happy to be in the semifinals playing against my friend Gael," said Tsonga. "I think it will be a good show! It's a very good feeling to be back. It was a lot of work to come back from injury."

"It was a great match, it was very close all the way through," said Monfils. "It's great to be in the semifinals, it gives me confidence. I'm playing consistently, which makes me feel good."

(source ATP Tennis, photo/PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images, Robert Cianflone/Getty Images, Reuters)

Top four seeds reach semis in Bangkok