Stepanek upsets fifth seed Verdasco

Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic advanced to the semi-finals of the $1.4 million ATP Washington Classic on Friday by eliminating Spanish fifth seed Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-4. Stepanek will play Saturday against the winner of a later match between seventh-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, last year's Washington runner-up, and 128th-ranked Donald Young, an American seeking his first ATP smei-final berth. French top seed Gael Monfils will meet Serbian sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic and Serbian third seed Viktor Troicki will face 35th-ranked American John Isner in later quarter-finals at the hardcourt tuneup event for the US Open. Stepanek, who at 54th in the ranking was 35 spots below the Spanish left-hander, broke Verdasco in the fifth game and never faced a break point, taking the first set on back to back service winners. The 32-year-old Czech denied Verdasco on 7-of-8 break points in the second set to win after one hour and 51 minutes. Stepanek won his first three matches against Verdasco but had lost three in a row since to the 19th-ranked Spaniard, most recently a five-setter in the first round in June at Wimbledon.