Top seeds Fernando Verdasco and Anna Chakvetadze reached the semi-finals at the New Haven Open on Thursday, while Slovenian Luka Gregorc continued his giant-killing run to join them.
Former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo also continued her recent revival following injury, beating last year’s runner-up Agnes Szavay 6-4 7-5 to reach the last four.
Spaniard Verdasco eased past German Mischa Zverev 6-2, 7-6 to set up a clash with Mardy Fish.
PHOTO: AP
“The first set, I think I played so good,” Verdasco said. “Second set at 1-0 I made some double-faults, maybe I lost a little bit of confidence and gave him some confidence.”
“But I think I played really good the whole match and I am happy with how I feel and how I’m playing,” he said.
However, the performance of the day came from Gregorc, who ousted Italian seventh seed Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Few people had heard of the world No. 434 at the start of the week, but the qualifier followed up his win over second seed Ivo Karlovic by ending Seppi’s title hopes.
Gregorc, who will play Marin Cilic in the semi-finals, was not totally surprised by his performance.
“You know, it’s hard to say ‘surprised’ because this is what you work for your whole career,” he said.
“No, I’m not surprised actually. I’ve been working hard and I’ve been playing well lately. This is kind of a little payback for all the hard work,” he said.
Sixth seed Cilic dominated Russian Igor Andreev, the fourth seed to win 6-3, 6-2. Eighth seed Fish defeated Jesse Levine 6-3, 7-6.
Chakvetadze said the scoreline in her 6-3, 6-3 win over Sorana Cirstea of Romania was slightly misleading.
“It was really, really tough, deuce all the time, a lot of break points,” the Russian said.
“It was tough conditions, it was too hot. In the beginning of the second set, I felt a little dizzy. But then I fought till the end,” she said.
Chakvetadze will play Mauresmo, who maintained her momentum with a hard-fought win over fourth seed Szavay.
Second seed Daniela Hantuchova was sent packing by Alize Cornet of France, while third-seeded Marion Bartoli also crashed out of the tournament as the unheralded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark played like there was no tomorrow to beat the 23-year-old 6-4, 6-0 in an hour and 11 minutes.
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