Fernando Verdasco defeated fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in straight sets on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Mexican Open tennis tournament.

Verdasco trailed 4-1 in the second-set tiebreaker but won six of the last seven points to close out the match 6-4 7-6 (7-5) against the second-seeded Almagro at The Fairmont Acapulco Princess.

The eighth-seeded Verdasco will play Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, who advanced by beating Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5 6-1.

Wawrinka had 11 aces and saved the only break opportunity he allowed to the 64th-ranked Frenchman.

In the women’s quarter-finals, Italian top seed Roberta Vinci defeated Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 6-2 6-0, while fellow Italian Sara Errani ousted Estrella Cabeza Candela of Spain 6-4 6-3.