AFP, ROTTERDAM, Netherlands
German Philipp Kohlschreiber stunned second seed Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to move into the semi-finals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament at the eighth attempt.
The 32-year-old improved to 6-3 over former US Open winner Cilic as he won a comeback duel in a little more than two hours.
Photo: EPA
“I gained a lot of confidence after my break in the second set and it gave me belief that I could win the match,” Kohlschreiber said.
“It feels great to stun a great player like Marin in such a big tournament. Sometimes everything falls into place. Looking back, I made the right decisions on the decisive moments,” he added.
Kohlschreiber, ranked 33rd in the world, fought off 15 Cilic aces, while producing nine of his own, along with 38 winners and 20 unforced errors.
Fifth seed Gael Monfils stopped an upset bid from German teenager Alexander Zverev, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, with the Frenchman making life hard on himself.
Monfils was broken while serving for the first set before salvaging it in a tiebreaker. Leading 3-1 in the second, he sent over a double fault to suddenly face three break points, saving them all for 4-1
The showman finally finished off the win on a second match point after saving three more break points in the final game. He is to next face Kohlschreiber against who he boasts a 11-2 career lead.
Slovakia’s Martin Klizan saved five match points to stun in-form Spanish sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-0.
Bautista Agut, ranked 17th, missed a chance for a straight-sets victory when he was broken for 5-5 in the second set, despite saving four break points in the game.
Klizan seized his chance, holding for 6-5 and winning a tiebreaker to take the match into a deciding third set, where he dominated to love with the win in 2 hours, 45 minutes.
Klizan is to next face French qualifier Nicolas Mahut, who put out eighth seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia, 6-2, 6-1.
Mahut, ranked 54th in the world, has a winning past in the Netherlands, earning a pair of trophies at the grass event at Rosmalen in 2013 and last year.
MEMPHIS OPEN
AP, MEMPHIS, Tennessee
Teenager Taylor Fritz beat Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) on Friday, becoming the youngest American to reach an ATP semi-final since 1989.
Fritz needed 2 hours, 20 minutes to continue his amazing run at the Racquet Club. Fritz, who turned 18 years old on Oct. 28 last year, used his big serve and strong forehand to advance to his first career ATP semi-final as the youngest American since Michael Chang won Wembley in 1989 at the age of 17.
Fritz, in the event as a wild-card ranked 145th in the world, was to play Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania yesterday. Berankis upset No. 3 seed Donald Young 7-6, 6-1, needing 80 minutes to advance.
Three-time defending champion Kei Nishikori beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 6-4, while fourth-seeded Sam Querrey defeated Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-4 in the other quarter-final.
ARGENTINA OPEN
AP, BUENOS AIRES
Defending champion Rafael Nadal reached the semi-finals with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 victory over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy.
The Spaniard and former world No. 1 was to face a tough test yesterday against Dominic Thiem, a 22-year-old Austrian and one of the game’s rising stars.
Thiem defeated Dusan Lajovic of Serbia on Friday 6-4, 6-2.
Nicolas Almagro of Spain beat No. 3 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-2, 7-5, while No. 2 David Ferrer of Spain was 4-2 up in the first set against No. 8 Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay before play was suspended.
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