Grand Slam title winners Stanislas Wawrinka and Marin Cilic were beaten in the Geneva Open quarter-finals by unseeded opponents on Thursday.
Top-seeded Wawrinka, ranked No. 9, went down 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4 to 74th-ranked Federico Delbonis of Argentina.
Last year’s Australian Open champion extended an unwanted record of never having won a tour title in his native Switzerland.
Photo: EPA
In the semi-finals, Delbonis faces sixth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal, who rallied to a stunning victory against Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (8/6).
Sousa faced four match points trailing 6-2 in the decisive tiebreaker before reeling off six straight points to take victory.
Second-seeded Cilic was beaten 7-5, 6-3 by Santiago Giraldo of Colombia.
Cilic, who has been troubled by a shoulder injury this year, has advanced to only one tournament semi-final since winning the US Open title in September last year.
The 10th-ranked Croatian had nine aces on the clay-court surface, but failed to create a break-point chance against the 67th-ranked Giraldo.
Giraldo faces Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in an all-unseeded semi-final.
Bellucci, a two-time champion at the neighboring Swiss Open in Gstaad, beat Albert Ramos-Vinalos of Spain 6-0, 1-6, 6-3.
Strasbourg
Top-seeded American Madison Keys withdrew from the Internationaux de Strasbourg because of an elbow injury, giving French player Kristina Mladenovic a walkover into the semi-finals.
Keys pulled out as a precautionary measure ahead of the French Open, which starts tomorrow.
Mladenovic faces compatriot Virgine Razzano, who rallied to beat Elena Vesnina of Russia 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Elsewhere, American Sloane Stephens reached the last four after second-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia retired from the match after losing the first set 6-1.
Stephens faces No. 3 Samantha Stosur of Australia, who took two hours to beat Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Meanwhile, World No. 6 Milos Raonic withdrew from the French Open having failed to recover from a foot injury, the 24-year-old said.
The Canadian missed the Internazionali BNL d’Italia last week and had hoped to recover in time for the season’s second Grand Slam on the clay courts of Roland Garros, but the first day has come too soon.
“I tried my best to be back and healthy in time after surgery,” Raonic said on Twitter. “I will continue my rehab and proceed with preparations for a 100 percent strong Wimbledon and Queens run.”
OPEN DE NICE
Second-seeded John Isner of the US beat Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 to reach the Open de Nice semi-finals, while defending champion Ernests Gulbis lost 6-2, 6-4 against Austria’s Dominic Thiem.
Isner, who had eight aces and saved both break points he faced, faces Thiem, who broke the third-seeded Latvian’s serve twice in each set in their quarter-final. Gulbis double-faulted five times.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Borna Coric of Croatia beat James Duckworth 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), breaking the Australian’s serve five times, to set up a semi-final against fourth-seeded Leonardo Mayer.
Mayer was at his defensive best, saving all six break points he faced in a 6-3, 6-4 win against No. 8 Juan Monaco in an all-Argentine match.
Nuremberg
Second-seeded Angelique Kerber reached the semi-finals of the Nuremberg Versicherungscup with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi, while fourth-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy beat seventh-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.
Sixth-seeded Karin Knapp defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-4 for a place in the other semi-final.
The Italian faces the the 98th-ranked Lara Arruabarrena of Spain, who beat the eighth-seeded Carina Witthoeft of Germany 6-0, 6-4 in the late quarter-final.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two