Fiery-tempered Flavio Saretta turned up the heat on his rivals when he saw off South Africa's Neville Godwin to book a place in the last four of the XL Capital Bermuda Open.

Saretta, whose entertaining performances this week have been punctuated by disputes with umpires and more than the occasional Portuguese swearword, beat the less colourful, but no less talented, Godwin in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Centre Court yesterday.

As in his match with Andrew Ilie, Saretta was forced to go the distance, but unlike that encounter where, second set apart, he made few errors, his quarter-final performance was a real mixed bag.

The first set went with serve until the tenth game.

But with Godwin needing to win to level things up, the man from Johannesburg choked.

Although he recovered from Saretta's superb down the line winner which opened the scoring to reach advantage-40, he then put a volley into the net and a return wide to hand the initiative to his Brazilian opponent.

With the pressure well and truly on, Godwin then hit a weak return into the net and it was first blood to Saretta.

The pendulum continued to swing the way of the South American in the second set and he surged into a 3-1 lead before Godwin got out of first gear.

However, he didn't have to work too hard to reduce the deficit to one game, Saretta succumbing meekly to a break in game five.

Godwin levelled at three-all and then the dark side of Saretta surfaced in the next game.

At 30-all he sent a return wide, but as in his game with Ilie he took on the umpire, questioning his decision to call the ball out.

After a berating at the net, which lasted a minute or so, Saretta reluctantly accepted the decision but he clearly had not got it out of his system during the exchanges that followed and Godwin ceased the opportunity to break.

Enraged, Saretta let out a profane bellow, which the clearly bilingual chair umpire took umbrage with, slapping him with a code violation.

Godwin then went 5-3 up and though Saretta held his serve in the next game, the South African served out to take the set 6-4.

The pair shared the opening four games before Godwin broke again in the fifth, Saretta marking the moment by hurling his racquet towards his chair.

However, Godwin was unable to build on his good work, and a forehand crosscourt by Saretta, after his opponent conceded several easy points, restored parity.

Saretta held his serve in the seventh game and so the pressure was all on Godwin going into the next.

Needing to win to give himself a chance, he raced to 40-love but was then undone with three poor shots which culminated in a code violation for a verbal obscenity.

Rattled, he could do nothing to counter Saretta's backhand crosscourt and the South American stood one game away from a place in today's showdown.

His spirit broken, Godwin failed to get a point in the deciding game, a return into the net handing the match to Saretta.

The South American said it had not been easy to overcome Godwin. "He is a player that plays so slow with a lot of slice," he said. "On clay courts it is difficult to play against a guy who plays like that."

Saretta said he was happy with his overall performance.

"In the first set I played very well," he said. "In the second too, but I lost my serve twice, and I lost the set. But (overall) I played well."

Having now come through two three-setters in red hot temperatures, Saretta's fitness may be tested today when he plays Hyung-Taik Lee in the semi-final.

However, the player felt he was up to it, even if it meant a repeat performance to get to the final.

"I am happy with how I am playing and I don't mind if it's two or three sets," he said. "If I win it's OK."

Earlier, Israel's Noam Okun continued his fine form by seeing off Saretta's countryman Marcos Daniel in two sets, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

The first set went with serve but Okun, who celebrated his 24th birthday on Tuesday, emerged victorious in the tiebreak.

The second, however, went completely the opposite way with both players seemingly breaking each other with ease.

With the set at four-all, Okun served out for a one game lead and Daniel was most definitely in the lion's den.

Seeing his opportunity, the man from Haifa played aggressively reaching love-40 with a fine backhand crosscourt return.

That set up match point and when a Daniel return drifted out it was all over.

Hot on the heels of his victory, there was more good news for Okun when ATP supervisor Norm Chryst rushed to tell him that he had made the main draw for the next big event on the circuit in Houston, Texas.

Beaming all over his face Okun assessed his performance.

"I am happy because it was a tough match," he said. "It was very hot today and the conditions, physically, were difficult.

"I managed somehow to win the first tiebreak and broke a couple of times (in the second set) but couldn't keep my serve, but finally I broke again to win the match."

Okun said victory came down to keeping his eye on the prize.

"He broke me in the first game of the second set. I lost concentration and then it became a case of I break him and he breaks me," he said.

"I thought that the guy who was more focused on the court in the end would win the match and that was me."

Okun now plays Vince Spadea in today's other semi-final.