Andrey Rublev, Alex de Minaur and Frances Tiafoe, respectively the top seeds at Stockholm, Antwerp and Almaty, all suffered quarter finals defeats, as did second seeded Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alejandro Tabilo in what is an impressive series of losses by the top players expected to be contesting for said titles.
I cannot change my age, but most important for me is that when I enter the court, I always try to fight,. I try to improve and enjoy what I am doing. Stan Wawrinka
The first to fall was Tiafoe at the Almaty Open a day after he had battled past Britain’s Dan Evans in three sets, beaten by Aleksander Vukic earlier in the day.
Vukic, the Australian world No.85, downed the American 6-2 7-6(11) to reach his third tour semi-final on his fifth match point in a very dramatic second set tiebreak lasting 89-minutes in which he delivered 13 aces.
The third seeded Karen Khachanov awaits him in the semi-finals after the Russian eased past home favourite Beibit Zhukayev 6-2 6-4.
The other semi will be played by Francisco Cerundolo (4) and Gabriel Diallo who defeated Alexander Shevchenko and Tabilo respectively, 6-2 6-3 and 3-6 6-3 6-4.
“I’m super happy. I knew it was going to be a really tough match,” the new favourite for the title said in his on-court interview. “We played last week in Shanghai and he beat me in a really close match. I knew he was playing super good, I told him that at the net. I knew what I had to do, and I think I did it really well. I served well, and I’m really happy to get to another semi-final, and my first on hard courts this year.
“I haven’t watched [Diallo] a lot,” the Argentine added. “We warmed up today together, but I don’t think I’ve seen many of his matches. I’m going to watch a little bit of him [on video] and learn how he plays. I think it’s going to be a tough match. He’s huge, he serves really well, hits the ball really well. Here in these conditions, he’s going to be super tough.”
(Photo by ANDERS WIKLUND/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Images)
The biggest upset of the day was the elimination of Andrey Rublev by the 39-year-old three-time grand slam champion, Stan Wawrinka 7-6(5) 7-6(5) after one-hour and 52-minutes at the Nordic Open in Stockholm.
The Swiss star, a former world No.3, held firm in both the set tiebreaks to defeat a top-ten player for the first time in over a year and became the third oldest semi-finalist in ATP history behind Jimmy Connors and Ivo Karlovic.
“The key was to stay focused and positive with myself,” said Wawrinka, who let slip a 2-0 lead in the second set before completing his win. “Andrey is such an amazing player, but I was feeling good on the court, I was moving well. I could start to dictate a little bit, and with so much support from the crowd, it is easier to fight on the court.
“I cannot change my age, but most important for me is that when I enter the court, I always try to fight,” Wawrinka added. “I try to improve and enjoy what I am doing. The reason I keep going is to play matches like this, with so many people giving me good energy on the court, and I’m super happy to have the chance to play one more match tomorrow.”
Rublev’s defeat on Friday will have hit his chances of qualifying for Turin where he currently sits in the eighth spot with four players pushing hard behind him including Tommy Paul (4) who is in 11th place and is now the strong favourite to go all the way in the Swedish capital after defeating Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(9) 6-2.
Paul now takes on Wawrinka while in the other half Grigor Dimitrov (3) could well upset Paul’s hopes as the Bulgarian swept into the last four with a 6-3 6-2 win over Dominic Stricker where he faces Casper Ruud’s 7-5 7-6(5) conqueror Tallon Griekspoor.
In Antwerp, at the European Open, Hugo Gaston produced the upset of the event when he took out Alex de Minaur 6-3 3-6 7-5 for one of the best wins of his career.
“It was really close. Alex is such a great player, playing unbelievable tennis this year and in the past few years,” said Gaston after notching his first win in five attempts against an opponent from the Top 10.
“When you play against Alex, you have to be ready to play a lot of rallies. I have a little bit of pain in my body, but I tried to stay focused on the game and on my shots, and it was a good one today.”
Standing in Gaston’s way for a spot in his third tour-level match is Roberto Bautista Agut who earlier ousted third seed Felix Auger Aliassime 3-6 6-2 7-6(6) to reach his first Tour semi-final since just over a year.
The quarter final defeat in his first tournament since the US Open was a blow to the Australian’s hopes of qualifying for Turin for the first time. Currently the 25-year-old lies ninth in the Race table.
After de Minaur’s exit, second seed Tsitsipas was stunned by Jiri Lehecka who cruised to a 6-4 6-4 win after 84-minutes, a defeat which also may well affect his chances for Turin where he currently lies 11th.
The fifth-seeded Lehecka will play Marcos Giron in his sixth tour-level semi-final on Saturday.
