Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and Leander Paes of India stunned top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan to advance to the semi-finals of the doubles at the Delray Beach Open in Florida on Friday.
ATP Tour veterans Lu and Paes, 33 and 43 respectively, completed a 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 10-7 victory in 1 hour, 32 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Indian duo saved seven of nine break points and failed to convert any of the five they created, but it was enough as they edged the first-set tiebreak and the super tiebreak to set up a semi-final against third seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, who advanced on Thursday.
Photo: AFP
In the singles, former US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro beat defending champ Sam Querrey in straight sets to reach his second straight semi-final.
The victory set up a mouth-watering battle with top seed Milos Raonic.
The seventh seeded Del Potro beat Querrey 7-5, 7-5 in a 93 minute match on Stadium Court.
Photo: AFP
The Argentine hammered eight aces, had two double-faults and won 87 percent of his first-serve points while overcoming 16 aces by Querrey.
Del Potro has split his two career meetings with Raonic, but they have not played in four years.
“It’s going to be a big chance for me,” Del Potro said. “He’s the favorite and is playing so good, but I want to see how my level is against the top players at this part of the year.”
Little separated Del Potro and Querrey during their quarter-final, but the Argentine gained the lone break in each set at 5-5. He denied Querrey any break-point chances.
Raonic booked his semi-final berth by rallying to beat Britain’s Kyle Edmund 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
At the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching’s bid for a second title of the season came to an end in the semi-finals.
Fifth seeds Chan and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan fell to a 6-1, 6-3 defeat to sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai in just 63 minutes.
The Czech-Chinese duo were due to face Russian second seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final after they ousted third seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 16 minutes in the other semi-final.
In the singles, top-seeded Angelique Kerber struggled with a knee injury during a 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) loss to seventh seed Elina Svitolina in the semi-finals.
Kerber would have reclaimed the No. 1 ranking if she had won the Dubai tournament.
Svitolina is to play Caroline Wozniacki, who earlier reached her second consecutive final of the season with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Latvian Anastasija Sevastova.
Additional reporting by AP
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