INQUIRER Sports

NEWPORT -- Two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro won back-to-back matches Friday to reach the semi-finals of the rain-hit $500,000 ATP Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

Both the second and quarter-final rounds were completed Friday due to a number of weather delays.

France's Santoro defeated American Taylor Dent 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the second round before registering a 6-4, 6-4 win over countryman Nicolas Mahut later in the day on the grass courts.

Mahut cruised past American journeyman Alex Bogomolov 6-2, 6-2 in the second round.

Santoro's next faces third-seeded American Sam Querrey in the semi-finals.Querrey rallied to beat Prakash Amritraj 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-2, in the second round, then breezed past seventh-seeded American Kevin Kim, 6-3, 6-4.Kim stopped German Daniel Brands, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, in the second round.