WASHINGTON: Former world number three David Nalbandian, who has missed the past six Grand Slam events with injuries, reached his first ATP semi-final in 18 months on Friday at the Washington Classic.

The 117th-ranked Argentine rallied to oust 33rd-rated Frenchman Gilles Simon 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and will play either Croatian fourth seed Marin Cilic or Serbian Janko Tipsarevic for a berth in Sunday`s final of the US Open tuneup event.

The other semi-final pits Belgium`s 62nd-ranked Xavier Malisse, who upset Czech top seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, against Cypriot eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis, who eliminated Spanish third seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.

Nalbandian missed nine months due to hip surgery, made a brief comeback early this year, then missed two months with a sore hamstring before returning in July to help Argentina reach a Davis Cup semi-final against France.

The 28-year-old South American, playing his first ATP event since April this week, reached his first semi-final since February of last year at Buenos Aires. He last won an ATP title the month before that in Sydney.

Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon runner-up, has not played in a Grand Slam event since losing in the second round of last year`s Australian Open to Taiwan`s Lu Yen-Hsun.

Both Nalbandian and Simon, who missed nearly three months this year with a right knee injury, sprayed unforced errors throughout the match. Nalbandian overcame 22 in the last set alone to advance in one hour and 57 minutes.

Five of the match`s 12 service breaks came in the last set. After an early exchange, Nalbandian broke again on his third break-point chance in the sixth game, surrendered his own serve with a forehand beyond the baseline, then broke in five points to 5-3 when Simon netted a forehand and held for the victory.

Eighth-ranked Berdych struggled in his first event since losing his first Grand Slam final to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, unable to capitalize on being an ATP top seed for the first time.

Berdych sent a backhand long to hand Malisse a break in the fourth game of the third set and the Belgian broke again in the last game, Berdych hitting a backhand long to end the match after two hours and 10 minutes.

"The third set is one of the best sets I`ve played. I hit the ball hard and won a lot of points with my serve," Malisse said. "It just feels good to beat players like that. I played well consistently."

Berdych, who has yet to win a title this year, blamed the loss on starting only 10 hours after finally getting to sleep following a Thursday rain delay.

"In the first set I felt like I was still sleeping," he said. "I was not 100 percent ready and that`s disappointing. I wanted to play better."

Berdych was unhappy at filling a scheduled noon television slot.

"This is a pretty bad experience for a tournament where I`m first seeded. I thought I could get some better times with a No. 1 seed," Berdych said.

"It`s the reason I`m not going to be here next year."

Malisse, seeking his first ATP title since 2007, dismissed fatigue as a major factor.

"We finished about the same time," Malisse said. "For both it was the same."

Verdasco was sent packing but the Spaniard said fatigue was not a factor in his defeat.

"I didn`t play well," Verdasco said. "We all finished late

BDST: 2124 HRS, AUGUST 07, 2010