David Ferrer says it’s taken him two days to get used to faster tennis courts than he expected in Auckland.

The top seeded Spaniard was pushed to three sets by Yen-Hsun Lu in his first 2013 match in the Auckland Open on Wednesday but went to another level on Thursday, thrashing Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-2 6-1.

“The first game is difficult to play good, but yesterday was a surprise with the court being so fast.

“But today I knew that the court was faster and I tried to improve my game and to adapt.”

Ferrer said the court was possibly quicker than at the US Open, where he reached the semi-final, but it was the surprise factor that was the problem.

“I don’t have any problem to play in fast courts… Anyway, it’s the same for all the players.”

Ferrer, bidding to win the tournament for the third consecutive year and the fourth year overall, will play either Tommy Haas or Gael Monfils in the semi-finals.

The other semi-final will be between second seed Philipp Kohlschreiber and fourth seed Sam Querrey after they both won their quarter-finals in straight sets.

Kohlschreiber didn’t have much to spare in his 7-6 6-4 quarter-final win against Xavier Malisse of Belgium, who was also in good touch.

But when it mattered Kohlschreiber struck, winning a tight first set tiebreak 8-6 and securing a vital break in the second set with some breathtaking tennis.

“I tried to be kind of aggressive, to play the point, not to wait for the opponent to make mistakes,” he said.

Big-serving American Sam Querrey beat Jesse Levine of Canada 6-4 7-6.

The 1.98m American has been in great form since June, for which he gives some of the credit to his travelling chiropractor Casey Cordial.

“Casey has been there every week since June,” Querrey said.

“We do a ton of work on my shoulder, rotator cuff, elbow. He makes me go out 100 per cent every day.”

The clash will be the first for Kohlschreiber and Querrey outside a grand slam, where the American holds a 2-1 advantage.