Blake battles past Rochus to reach Stockholm Open semis

STOCKHOLM, Oct 13 (Reuters) Defending champion James Blake survived his first serious test at the Stockholm Open today, beating Belgian sixth seed Olivier Rochus 6-7 6-4 6-2 to reach the semi-finals.

The American world number eight, who beat Rochus in the semis here last year, concluded with an ace and will meet the winner of the match between Czech third seed Tomas Berdych and Swedish hope Robin Soderling in the last four.

''He was tough last year and I knew it was going to be tough today,'' said Blake, who fired 16 aces past the Belgian.

''I served well enough and got out of tricky situations.

Sometimes that happens when you have confidence. I remember last year when I played him here I had a lot of aces too,'' added the American, chasing his fifth title of the yea It was Blake's third win in four meetings with Rochus.

Earlier, Finn Jarkko Nieminen, the fifth seed, defeated Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 7-5.

Nieminen, the highest ranked Nordic player, took advantage of some Lopez nerves at 5-5 in the second set and broke serve after a double fault by the Spaniard had given him a break point.

The 2001 runner-up then comfortably served out the match.

Reuters KD DB2338