American Young reaches semifinals at Thailand Open

BANGKOK (AP) - Donald Young reached his second semifinal of the year by beating Go Soeda of Japan 6-1, 6-2 Friday at the Thailand Open.

Young, ranked No. 55, also reached the semifinals last month in Washington, but he has yet to make a final.

"I hope to go further. Every time you make it into a stage, the second time you hope to go further,'' Young said. "When you win a tournament you want to repeat.''

Young will face second-seeded Gael Monfils of France, who defeated Jarkko Nieminem of Finland 7-5, 7-6 (4) in another quarterfinal match.

"He gets a lot of balls back,'' Young said. "He's in the top 10. He beat me pretty bad the last we played. Whoever I play, it's going to be a tough match for me.''

Monfils, who also reached the Thailand Open semifinals in 2008, is still recovering from a knee injury but held on in both sets to advance.

"I still had a small pain on the knee and I have to ice it, put a bit more protection,'' Monfils said.