Newport, RI -- (Sports Network) - Two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro won a pair of matches Friday to reach the semifinals of the $500,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

With the tournament catching up after a number of weather delays and postponements, both the second and quarterfinal rounds were completed Friday.

The second-seeded Santoro defeated American Taylor Dent, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in the second round before posting a 6-4, 6-4 win over Nicolas Mahut later in the day. Mahut had pasted American Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-2, 6-2, in second-round action.

Santoro's semifinal opponent will be third-seeded American Sam Querrey, who likewise won a pair of matches. Querrey came back to down Prakash Amritraj, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-2, in the second round, then glided past seventh-seeded American Kevin Kim, 6-3, 6-4. Kim had held off German Daniel Brands, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, in the second round.

On the top portion of the bracket, Belgian Olivier Rochus and America's Rajeev Ram reached the semis.

Rochus knocked off eighth-seeded Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, in his first match of the day, then posted an easy 6-4, 6-4 win over American Brendan Evans in the quarters. Evans had beaten countryman Robby Ginepri, 6-3, 6-4, in the second round.

Ram, meanwhile, advanced to the quarters with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Aussie Samuel Groth. In the only three-set quarterfinal, Ram held off the USA's Jesse Levine, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3). Levine got past sixth-seeded German Philipp Petzschner, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, in the second round.

The 2009 Newport champion will collect $79,000.