For the first time since 2001, three of the top four seeds have advanced to the semifinals at Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz.



Top seed Andy Murray had a slightly easier time of it in his quarterfinal match, knocking off Alejandro Falla 7-3(3) 6-1 on Friday night. Murray was pushed to three sets in the second round Tim Smyczek.



Murray is the first British player to reach the semifinals in LA since Tim Henman in 1998. That year Henman reached the final before losing to Andre Agassi.



In the other top half quarterfinal, No. 3 seed Feliciano Lopez survived a tough test from American James Blake before prevailing 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4.



Defending champion Sam Querrey, the No. 2 seed, was pushed to three sets for the second day in a row, but came out on top in a 6-2 3-6 7-6(4) win over Rainer Schuettler.



Querrey is also the defending champion of the Olympus US Open Series.



Rounding out the semifinalists is No. 6 Janko Tipsarevic, who has not lost a set in three matches. He won his quarterfinal 6-3 7-5 over Marcos Baghdatis.



This year is the first time four seeds have reached the semifinals since 2006.