Querrey aces way into Auckland semifinals

Fourth-seeded Querrey had 16 aces, to go with the 19 he had in his second-round match against Olivier Rochus, to earn a semifinal place opposite second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Querrey and Levine, both 25, first played each other as teenagers at a futures tournament in 2006 when Canada's Levine was a winner in three sets.

Their careers have since diverged and Querrey has lifted his world ranking to 22 while Levine was forced to qualify in Auckland on his current ranking of 104.

Thursday's match was his 10th of the year after he also qualified at last week's Brisbane International.

Top-seeded David Ferrer downed Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-1 in only 52 minutes. The Spaniard rebounded after struggling with the pace of the courts in his opening match on Wednesday when he needed three sets and two hours to beat Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan.

Ferrer will face the winner of the last quarterfinal, due on court later Thursday, between third-seeded Tommy Haas and Gael Monfils.