Tennis-Robredo battles through to Paris last four

PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Spain's Tommy Robredo overcame a fierce challenge from Finn Jarkko Nieminen to advance to semi-finals of the Paris Masters with a 6-7 7-6 6-4 win today.

Robredo, seeded sixth in the indoor event, recorded his fourth victory over Nieminen in as many meetings but was made to work for it.

Tiebreaks decided the first two sets of a close contest. The decisive set was also tight, Nieminen surviving three match points at 5-3 down.

Robredo, however, then served for the match and earned a fourth match point, on which 14th seed Nieminen hit a forehand long to bow out after two hours and 44 minutes.

The gritty Spaniard, who had made sure of qualifying for the year-end Masters Cup for the first time by reaching the quarter-finals here, next faces Russian Nikolay Davydenko or Croatia's Mario Ancic.

REUTERS BDP HS2236