Top seed Feliciano Lopez remains on course to lift his sixth ATP World Tour title at the Abierto Mexicano Mikel after he reached the semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over fellow 34-year-old Julien Benneteau in 73 minutes. Lopez lost just three of his first service points to reach his fifth ATP World Tour semi-final (or better) in 2016.
Lopez now faces fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who rallied from a set and a break down to beat Santiago Giraldo 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 6-3. The Spanish wild card, runner-up at the Argentina Open and Millennium Estoril Open earlier this year, broke serve five times over three hours in the hot and humid conditions of Los Cabos.
“It was quite a difficult match,” Carreno Busta said. “Santiago was a tough opponent. Things were not looking good after I lost the first set, but I stayed calm and got the win in the end.”
Third seed Ivo Karlovic fired down 19 aces past eighth seed Marcel Granollers in the pair’s first meeting for eight years (since 2008 Hamburg). Karlovic, who has now hit 37 aces in two matches this week, won 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-1 in one hour and 50 minutes. The giant Croat, who is currently No. 24 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, recently reached the Citi Open final (l. to Monfils).
“It was a long match, but it wasn’t really tiring,” said Karlovic. “I will definitely have enough energy for tomorrow. In the beginning I didn’t feel good, but I was fighting with myself to stay in the match.”
Dusan Lajovic advanced to his third ATP World Tour semi-final of 2016 (also Sao Paulo, Kitzbuhel) by defeating seventh seed Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 7-6(5) in one hour and 33 minutes. Lajovic led 5-2 in the first set, then recovered from a 2/5 deficit in the second set tie-break.
“I’m pretty happy with the way I played today,” said Lajovic. “It was tough with the wind, we both struggled at the beginning. I felt I controlled the game pretty well and he made some mistakes at the end of the first set. I then raised my level, having stalled a bit. I’m happy to have finished it in two sets.”
Indians Into Doubles SFs
Purav Raja and Divij Sharan recovered to beat Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak 1-6, 6-3, 10-7 to move into the semi-finals. The Indian duo claimed 11 of 16 second-serve return points and broke serve three times (3/4) to advance in 74 minutes.
Also victorious were Jonathan Erlich and Ken Skupski, who took out third seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Mate Pavic 6-4, 1-6, 10-5. Erlich/Skupski saved seven break points (7/11) in the 72-minute encounter.
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