WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Second-seeded American James Blake made it to the semifinals of the U.S. clay court tennis tournament on Friday as he ruled out a strong challenge from Argentine Juan Monaco in the quarterfinals.

After third-seeded German Tommy Haas and No. 5 Jurgen Melzer of Austria had been eliminated with quarter-final losses, Blake claimed a 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(0) victory over eighth-seeded Monaco.

The American took the first set and played a loose second set, getting broken in his first two service games before turning the momentum around in the third set.

Blake, who has reached the semi-finals of this event for the first time, will try to reach his third ATP final of the year when he meets another Argentinian, qualfier Mariano Zabaleta.

Zabaleta advanced to an ATP semi-final for the first time since2005 with a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over last year's runner-up Melzer.

Croatia's Ivo Karlovic defeated world No. 10 Haas to set up the other semi-final showdown against Albert Montanes of Spain, a 6-4,6-4 winner over American Vince Spadea.