HOUSTON — Top-seeded James Blake advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship with a quick 6-4, 6-3 victory over Agustin Calleri tonight.

Blake needed just 67 minutes to eliminate the Argentine, ranked No. 53.

Despite the short match, "he made me work for it," Blake told the crowd afterward. "He's an excellent player but tonight I played good."

Blake, ranked No. 8, broke Calleri to close out the first set. During the break between sets, Calleri called a trainer out to tend to his left hamstring. A wrap was placed on the leg a few games later.

"I tried to stay focused because sometimes you can let your concentration go if a guy looks possibly injured," Blake said. "I felt like I did a pretty good job of not letting that happen, still going for my shots, not just pushing and let him start dictating just because he might be a little injured."

Blake will try to reach his first ATP clay-court final when he plays eighth-seeded Oscar Hernandez of Spain on Saturday. Hernandez beat No. 3 seed Mardy Fish 6-2, 7-6 (5) earlier Friday to reach his first ATP semifinal.

In their only match, Blake beat Hernandez in two sets last year in Switzerland.

"Spaniards are generally tough on clay," Blake said. "The only time I've played him was on hard courts, so I think it'll be a little different tomorrow. He'll have a lot more time to deal with my aggressive play, and we'll see if I can keep pushing it towards him."

American Wayne Odesnik meets seventh-seeded Marcel Granollers-Pujol of Spain in the other semifinal.

Hernandez, ranked No. 73, won when Fish hit a forehand wide.

"I'm really, really happy," Hernandez said. "Not (just) for the semifinal but also for the way I play today. I play fantastic match. I really concentrate."

Fish served poorly, getting only 41 percent of his first serves in, compared with 60 percent for Hernandez.

Ranked No. 42 and the winner of the tournament in 2006, Fish said he had chances in the tiebreaker.

"That's a tiebreaker that I win eight, nine times out of 10 if I'm serving at 5-4," the American said. "I'm pretty comfortable at that position. I'd like to have that one back."

Smoke from a nearby hamburger concession wafted into the stadium and Fish said breathing was tough.

"I felt like I was playing in a bar," Fish said. "You play a long point, you try to get your breath back and all you're breathing in is smoke."

The concession stand has been open all week but a cold front that moved in overnight brought northerly winds, pushing smoke into the stadium. Tournament officials approached the stand's owner, who brought fans over to blow the smoke away from the stadium.

Hernandez said the smoke didn't bother him, though it did whet his appetite.

"I was hungry," he said, smiling.

Odesnik beat Sergio Roitman of Argentina 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1 to reach his first tour semifinal. Odesnik fought off a match point on Roitman's serve to force the second-set tiebreaker.

Granollers-Pujol beat Brazilian Marcos Daniel 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first tour semifinal.