Tennis News

Second seed and two-time former champion Gilles Simon reached the Moselle Open semi-finals on Friday in Metz as he defeated Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-4.

The Frenchman, who has an 11-4 tournament record in Metz, withstood 12 aces to break Muller twice in the 88-minute match. Simon is looking for a Metz hat-trick, having lifted the trophy in 2010 (d. M. Zverev) and 2013 (d. Tsonga).

“It was a good match especially against a player like Gilles Muller,” said Simon. “I feel good, I’m moving well and I’m happy with the way I’m playing from the baseline.”

The 30-year-old Simon has a 36-19 record in 2015 and is through to his fourth ATP World Tour semi-final. The right-hander captured his 12^th ATP World Tour crown earlier this year on home soil in Marseille (d. Monfils).

Sixth seed Martin Klizan reached his third ATP World Tour semi-final of the season as he rallied from a set down to beat fourth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4). The Slovakian captured his third ATP World Tour title earlier in the season on clay in Casablanca (d. Gimeno-Traver) and will play for a place in his fourth final when he faces Simon on Saturday.

Fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber was granted a semi-final berth when top seed Stan Wawrinka was forced to withdraw from the tournament. The Swiss had twisted his right ankle at the end of the first set of his second-round contest with Dustin Brown on Thursday evening.

“Unfortunately, I have to pull out because yesterday I twisted my ankle at 5-4 in the first set,” said Wawrinka. “It was painful in the match, but still OK with tape on it. But after a lot of treatment last night and some tests this morning, it’s dangerous for me to play because the pain is still there. So I will have to see a doctor to see if I will be OK in the next few weeks.”

Kohlschreiber is looking to reach the final of this ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard court tournament for the second time after finishing runner-up to Gael Monfils in the 2009 title match. He will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals.

Tsonga survived fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 25 minutes. The third seed held a set point in the first set tie-break, but saw his opponent win three points in a row from 5/6. The World No. 17 righted the ship in the first game of the second set, breaking Mahut for the first time of the match. Tsonga, who struck 12 aces to Mahut’s four, clinched the win by converting on his 14^th break point (4-for-14) at 6-5 in the deciding set.

“It was a good fight,” said Tsonga. “It’s always good to have a match like this against a good friend. I took a lot of pleasure from this match. I like this kind of atmosphere.”

Roger-Vasselin And Kubot Into Doubles Semi-finals

Second seeds Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Lukasz Kubot prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 against Pablo Carreno-Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to advance to the semi-finals. They will face third seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.

Second seed Milos Raonic made short work of fifth seed Tommy Robredo as he powered into the St. Petersburg Open semi-finals with a 6-1, 6-2 victory on Friday.

Raonic, who is making his debut at this ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard court tournament, is looking to mount a late charge for one of the four remaining spots at the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after his season was hampered by a foot injury.

The Canadian surged into the semi-finals in St. Petersburg in just 53 minutes, firing 11 aces and converting all four of his break points. “It was a difficult match,” said Raonic. “I’m really happy with how I played. I played better than yesterday, obviously, and that’s all I can ask from myself.”

As he looks to reach his second ATP World Tour final of the season, Raonic will face Roberto Bautista Agut, whom he beat in their one previous meeting in Paris-Bercy last year.

“Bautista Agut will present problems tomorrow,” said Raonic. “The question is, can I deal with those problems? Hopefully I can find the solutions in my match tomorrow and I can play as well as I did today and continue to improve.”

Fourth seed Bautista Agut dismissed Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-3 in 70 minutes. The Spaniard won the pair’s first meeting as he broke serve three times and saved the four break points he faced.

The 27-year-old Bautista Agut, who saved three match points to beat Teymuraz Gabashvili in the first round, improved to a 32-23 match record on the season. The right-hander has a 0-4 record in ATP World Tour semi-finals this year.

Third seed Dominic Thiem reached his fifth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season as he defeated Denis Istomin 6-2, 7-5.

“I played a very, very good first set,” said Thiem, who claimed his 33rd win of the season. “The second set was very close. I’m happy that I didn’t have to play a tie-break because it would have been tough against Denis. But I made a good break of his serve at 5-5 and I’m pretty happy with my game.”

The 22-year-old Austrian is looking to win his fourth title of the year, adding to the trophies he lifted in Nice (d. Mayer), Umag (d. Sousa) and Gstaad (d. Goffin). He goes on to face seventh seed Joao Sousa, who edged Tomas Berdych’s conqueror, Simone Bolelli, 7-6(7), 7-6(1).

“I think it was a close match today,” said Sousa, who prevailed in one hour and 44 minutes. “Simone was hitting the ball very hard and he beat a great player in Tomas yesterday. I think I played very good in both tie-breaks and I was also a little bit lucky.”

Sousa lost to Thiem in the Umag final in July and trails the Austrian 0-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. “You learn from other matches,” said Sousa. “For sure, he’s a very good player. It’s going to be a tough fight tomorrow. I’ll give it my best to try to win.”

Istomin Into Doubles Semi-Finals

Denis Istomin, who had been eliminated from singles earlier in the day, tasted victory in his second match on Friday. He and partner Alexander Bury overcame the loss of the first set to edge Philipp Oswald and Adil Shamasdin in a match tie-break, 3-6, 6-3, 13-11.