Second seed Jiri Novak has won his way into the Heineken Open semifinals after a slow start against Raemon Sluiter.
Novak, from the Czech Republic, won their quarterfinal clash at Auckland's ASB Bank Tennis Centre 4-6 6-4 6-4 in a slightly unconvincing performance which now has himto face the winner of Rafael Nadal and Gregory Carraz.
It is the fifth time he has reached the final four at the tournament.
The first set had Novak, the 1996 champion struggling as Sluiter, ranked 58 in the world, raced out to a 4-1 lead breaking Novak's serve with relative ease.
Novak did break back but was always chasing the energetic Dutchman on the scoreboard and Sluiter took the set 6-4.
In the second, Novak woke from his slumber and gained an early break of serve to quickly lead 4-2.
He swiftly closed out the set and Sluiter's head dropped.
In the third set, Novak kept his cool and became stronger while Sluiter again had trouble maintaining his serve.
