The Cordoba (Argentina) Open semifinals will have a heavily Argentinian flavor.
FILE PHOTO: Tennis – Wimbledon – All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain – July 6, 2018 Argentina’s Guido Pella in action during the third round match against Mackenzie McDonald of the U.S. REUTERS/Andrew Boyers
Three home-country players — eighth-seeded Guido Pella, Juan Ignacio Londero and Federico Delbonis — all advanced with straight-set quarterfinal wins Friday in the clay-court event.
Pella knocked off another Argentinian player, third-seeded Diego Schwartzman, 7-5, 6-2, while Londero got past Argentina’s Pedro Cachin 6-4, 7-6 (3). Delbonis eliminated Spain’s Jaume Munar 7-5, 6-4.
Londero and Delbonis will meet Saturday for a spot in the final. Pella’s semifinal opponent will be the winner of the quarterfinal match between Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas and Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene. The Friday night match was suspended because of rain with Bedene leading 3-1, 15-30 in the first set.
Open Sud de France
The Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych erased two match points and advanced to the semifinals in Montpellier, France, with a 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 7-5 win over Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic.
Krajinovic went up 15-40 on Berdych’s serve at 3-5 in the third set before Berdych rallied to take the game. Berdych then broke Krajinovic’s serve twice in the final three games to seal the victory.
Berdych’s semifinal opponent will be seventh-seeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert, as the Frenchman defeated third-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 7-6 (4).
On the other half of the draw, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came back for a 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Jeremy Chardy in an all-French quarterfinal. Tsonga has a semifinal date with Moldova’s Radu Albot, a 6-2, 7-6 (2) winner over Cyprus’ Marcos Baghdatis.
Sofia Open
Veteran Gael Monfils cruised to a win over 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas, advancing to the semifinals at Sofia, Bulgaria, with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory.
Tsitsipas, a Greek player seeded second, had no answers for the 32-year-old Frenchman. Monfils won 28 of his 30 first-serve points and never faced a break point.
Third-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev will oppose Monfils in the semis after routing Slovakia’s Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-1.
The other semifinal will feature sixth-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain, a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 winner over Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, against Marton Fucsovics of Hungary. Fucsovics got a walkover win when fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain was unable to play due to illness.
—Field Level Media