France’s Hugo Gaston saved two match points and 12 of 16 break points in upsetting top seed Sebastien Baez of Argentina 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (6) in the quarterfinals Thursday at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel, Austria.
Baez fired more winners (49-34) but also had more double faults (7-2) in the match lasting three hours and eight minutes.
Gaston will face Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta, who knocked off fourth seed Pedro Martinez of Spain 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4 in a three-hour, 32-minute match.
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini won his eighth consecutive match in beating American wild card Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Berrettini saved all three break points and recorded seven aces on Thursday. He improved to 9-0 in tiebreaks over the past two weeks.
He advances to the semifinals against Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann, who ousted Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag
Top seed Andrey Rublev of Russia moved closer to his third title of the year with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal victory over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in Umag, Croatia.
Rublev won earlier in 2024 in Hong Kong and Madrid and has 16 tour-level crowns. He converted six of 15 break points and fired 10 aces to zero double faults.
He moves to the semifinals against fourth-seeded Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (2) winner over Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Czech Jakub Mensik eliminated Taiwan lucky loser Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-0, 6-4 and will face second-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, a 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 winner over Dusan Lajovic of Serbia.
Atlanta Open
Third-seeded Frances Tiafoe won 84 percent of his first serve points (46 of 55) in emerging with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Aslan Karatsev in the second round.
Tiafoe had more aces (18-14) and fewer unforced errors (14-23) in the match lasting two hours and 5 minutes.
Fourth-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia won in straight sets over French lucky loser Harold Mayot 6-2, 7-5. Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka downed American Mackenze McDonald 6-3, 6-4 and next will face Tiafoe in the quarterfinals.
Three other singles matches were scheduled for later Thursday.
–Field Level Media
