Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun lost a tight quarter-final against Alexandr Dolgopolov at the Aegon Open in Nottingham, England, on Thursday, but will travel to Wimbledon in good spirits after a good showing on the grass courts at the Nottingham Tennis Centre this week.
World No. 61 Lu fell to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) defeat to the Ukrainian world No. 75, against whom he now has a 0-3 career record.
Lu saved eight of 11 break points and converted three of seven, but it was not enough as Dolgopolov edged the tight contest in 2 hours, 9 minutes, winning 112 of the 217 points contested.
The Ukranian recovered from 4-1 down in the first set by winning five straight games and the match turned into a late-night marathon when Lu broke serve when 5-4 up in the second to force a decider.
Dolgopolov got over the line in the third-set tiebreak when a Lu backhand drifted long.
Dolgopolov was due to take on Sam Querrey of the US in the semi-finals yesterday after the American saved two match points on his way to ousting second seed Gilles Simon of France 7-5, 6-7 (8/10), 6-4.
“The first set was a little slow. I was serving well, which kept me in it. It wasn’t until the middle of the second set that I started feeling good and got my confidence,” Querrey told the tournament Web site.
“There’s no better way to go into a major than winning a tournament the week before. It would be a great confidence booster,” he said.
Looking ahead to yesterday’s semi-final, the American said: “Dolgopolov has a strange game, he’s an awkward guy to play with the way he serves and hacks the slice around, he goes for the return.”
In yesterday’s other semi-final, Marcos Baghdatis was due to take on Denis Istomin.
A break of serve in each set was enough for world No. 59 Baghdatis to progress 6-4, 6-4 against Simone Bolelli of Italy in his bid to win a fifth ATP Tour title.
“To win any tournament this year would mean a lot to me. Every match that I play and win is a small victory towards a bigger victory. Better things will come in the future,” the Cypriot told the tournament Web site.
Uzbekistan’s Istomin knocked out fourth seed Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (10/8).
Looking forward to his semi-final, Istomin said: “He’s [Baghdatis] a great player, we’ve played a couple of times.”
“He returns well, so it will be more difficult for me to serve, but I’ll try to do my best and fight for each ball,” he said.
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