Sebastian Korda and Frances Tiafoe will meet in an all-American semifinal after each knocked off higher-seeded opponents in Friday’s quarterfinal round of the Millennium Estoril Open in Estoril, Portugal.
Korda, the eighth seed, upset No. 1 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 6-2, 6-2 in just 89 minutes. Korda broke Auger-Aliassime’s serve five times in 11 opportunities and won 26 of 38 first-service points (68.4 percent).
Tiafoe, the fifth seed, held off fourth-seeded Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-5 in two hours and 59 minutes. Tiafoe fell behind 5-2 in the third set before winning his final five games.
Tiafoe has won all three of his matches this week in three sets.
Sixth-seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the defending champion, took care of countryman Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2. He will meet Sebastian Baez of Argentina in the other semifinal Saturday after Baez rallied for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over France’s Richard Gasquet.
BMW Open
Dutch eighth seed Botic van de Zandschulp cruised in the second set and upset second seed Casper Ruud of Norway 7-5, 6-1, in the quarterfinals at Munich.
Van de Zandschulp was 12-for-15 (80 percent) on second-service points and saved the only break point he faced en route to taking down the highest seed remaining in the draw.
Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia also took down a higher-seeded foe. The seventh seed beat Georgian No. 4 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6 (5), 6-2. Kecmanovic and van de Zandschulp will face each other in the semifinals.
In the other semifinal, Germany’s Oscar Otte will meet Danish wild card Holger Rune. Otte took down Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo 6-1, 7-6 (1) and Rune eliminated Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-0, 6-2.
–Field Level Media
