Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday clawed his way past Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Abierto Mexicano in Acapulco.
The Greek world No. 5 is to take on Italian qualifier Lorenzo Musetti, who defeated Bulgarian fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
Tsitsipas dropped his opening service game against the Canadian seventh seed, clawing back with a break before finally reeling off the final six points of the opening set.
Photo: AP
However, he could not maintain that momentum, going down an early break again in the second set as Auger-Aliassime leveled the match.
The third set was a tense affair and it was Auger-Aliassime who cracked, coughing up back-to-back double faults to hand Tsitsipas the first break for a 5-3 lead and a chance to serve out the match.
Tsitsipas, who is vying to reach a first final of the year, reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open last month and in Rotterdam earlier this month, but is coming off a quarter-final loss to Pierre-Hugues Herbert in Marseille.
World No. 120 Musetti, 19, is through to his second career semi-final in his fourth ATP Tour appearance.
Dimitrov, the 2014 Acapulco champion, made the teenager work for his victory, saving six match points before finally pushing a forehand wide on Musetti’s seventh opportunity.
The other semi-final is an all-German affair between second seed Alexander Zverev and Dominik Koepfer.
Zverev advanced with a walkover after Norway’s Casper Ruud withdrew with a wrist injury.
World No. 71 Koepfer booked his first ATP Tour semi-final with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
Like Musetti, Koepfer needed multiple match points to seal his win.
“I had four match points on his serve, but I couldn’t get it done,” Koepfer said. “I got a bit tight, I’m not going to lie. I was nervous and I knew I would have to make a lot of first serves.”
DUBAI DUTY FREE
AFP, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Denis Shapovalov on Thursday put together another serving clinic to storm into the 12th semi-final of his career with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over French veteran Jeremy Chardy at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, while Andrey Rublev set up an all-Russian clash with Aslan Karatsev.
Third seed Shapovalov has yet to drop a set this week and has not been broken in all 28 service games he has played through three matches.
The 21-year-old Canadian fired 26 winners and lost a mere six points on his serve throughout the contest with Chardy.
In what will be his third semi-final appearance since the ATP Tour restarted in August last year, Shapovalov is to take on South African qualifier Lloyd Harris.
“I definitely focused on my serve a lot the last couple of weeks in practice, just putting a lot of time into it, placing it, trying different serves out and trying to have more variation,” the world No. 12 said.
Harris became the first qualifier to reach the semi-finals in Dubai thanks to a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
“I have a few matches under my belt now on these courts, so it’s starting to feel a little bit like my home court I must say. I’m just really enjoying it here,” said 24-year-old Harris, who has picked up six victories so far this week, including one over top seed Dominic Thiem.
Second seed Rublev extended his winning streak at ATP Tour 500 tournaments to 23 straight matches after he overcame Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-2.
The 23-year-old has dropped just five sets throughout the run that has seen him clinch four ATP Tour 500 titles.
Rublev and Fucsovics were drawn against each other for a third consecutive week. The Russian world No. 8 came out on top in the Rotterdam final, before Fucsovics withdrew ahead of their scheduled quarter-final in Doha last week.
“I hope I don’t play you anymore this year,” Fucsovics said as he walked off court.
Rublev is into the semi-finals in Dubai for the first time.
“I played really well these last three matches. I’ve never shown that level here in Dubai before, and I’m really happy I’m doing well and I’m winning,” the second seed said.
Karatsev backed up his surprise run to the Australian Open semi-finals last month by advancing with a hard-fought 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2 win over Italian teenager Jannik Sinner.
The 27-year-old came back from a set down for a second consecutive match and unleashed 41 winners against 25 unforced errors.
“From the beginning it was tough to get used to the rhythm, he’s playing so fast, he’s a really talented guy, he’s a top player. It took me time to get used to the rhythm and then in the tiebreak I was a bit unlucky. The second set I started to feel better, more comfortable,” world No. 42 Karatsev said.
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