Taylor Fritz first made an ATP Tour final more than three years ago in Memphis, when he was just 18. On Friday, the American will have a chance to reach his second tour-level championship match.

In a battle of 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifiers Thursday, Fritz defeated Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 7-6(5) to advance to the semi-finals of the Nature Valley International.

Fritz failed to serve out his second-round match against top seed Guido Pella Wednesday, later saying, “I just played a really poor game. I didn’t make any first serves. The only way to say it is I really choked that game.”

It was like deja vu against Hurkacz, as Fritz could not serve out the victory at 5-3 in the second set, the Pole earning his first break of the match. But Fritz remained calm and was able to close out his one-hour, 45-minute triumph in the tie-break.

Fritz will face a Brit in the last four, with third seed Kyle Edmund and in-form Daniel Evans to compete in the last singles match of the day. World No. 65 Evans recently won back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles on grass in Surbiton and Nottingham.

Fritz wasn’t the only American to move on, as former World No. 11 Sam Querrey ousted fifth seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6(4), 6-2 in one hour and 37 minutes.

This is Querrey’s first tournament since Houston in April due to an abdominal injury. He will try to reach his first ATP Tour final since the 2018 New York Open when he faces Italian Thomas Fabbiano, who upset Fever-Tree Championships finalist Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-3 to make his maiden tour-level semi-final.

Did You Know?
Fritz saved all seven break points he faced in the first set against Hurkacz, and he only landed 45 per cent of his first serves in the match.

Wimbledon doesn’t start until Monday, but Belgian Ruben Bemelmans has already made history at The Championships.

The 31-year-old qualified for an Open Era record sixth time at Wimbledon on Thursday, beating American Donald Young 6-4, 6-4, 6-1. Bemelmans had been tied for the qualifying record with Alejandro Falla, Ken Flach, Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Jimmy Wang.

Next for the Belgian: Reaching the fourth round at SW19 for the first time. Bemelmans made the third round in 2017 (l. to Anderson) and the second round in 2018 (l. to Isner).

View Bemelmans’ All-England Club History

A pair of #NextGenATP players also qualified. Aussie Alexei Popyrin, 19, overcame American Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 7-6(6). Popyrin, who cracked the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings on Monday, has played in every Grand Slam main draw this year after playing only at the Australian Open last year.

Top seed Corentin Moutet of France qualified with a routine 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win against Aussie Andrew Harris, who won two boys’ junior doubles titles with Nick Kyrgios in 2012 (Roland Garros, Wimbledon). The 20-year-old Frenchman made the third round in Roland Garros but will be making his Wimbledon debut.

Read More: Moutet Leading France’s #NextGenATP In Paris

Moutet is currently in seventh place in the ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight players who compete at the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 5-9 November in Milan. The eighth spot will be given to the winner of an all-Italian qualifying tournament to be held just before the 21-and-under event. Popyrin sits in 11^th place.

See Who Moutet, Popyrin Are Chasing In The ATP Race To Milan

Italy will have nine men in the main draw after Andrea Arnaboldi and Salvatore Caruso qualified. Arnaboldi battled past Evgeny Karlovskiy 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3. Caruso knocked out Canadian Brayden Schnur, New York Open finalist in February, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in only 84 minutes. Italy also had nine in the Roland Garros draw and at 2018 Wimbledon.

American Marcos Giron is continuing the best season of his career. The 25-year-old made the third round at the BNP Paribas Open in March and now will play at Wimbledon for the first time. Giron beat Viktor Galovic of Croatia 7-5, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Read More: Two Hip Surgeries Later, Giron Ready For More Success

Noah Rubin, 2014 Wimbledon boys’ junior singles champion, also will be making his main draw debut. The American beat German Yannick Hanfmann 7-6(5), 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Seventh seed Jiri Vesely, who climbed to a career-high of No. 35 in April 2015, beat Tommy Paul of the U.S. 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. Vesely has twice reached the fourth round at SW19. Last year, he fell to World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the Round of 16, and in 2016, Vesely lost in five sets to countryman Tomas Berdych.

Miomir Kecmanovic advanced to his first ATP Tour semi-final on Thursday at the Turkish Airlines Antalya Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over fellow Serbian Viktor Troicki in 72 minutes. Kecmanovic, who reached the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals (l. to Raonic) in March, is currently in eighth place in the ATP Race To Milan for a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November.

The 19-year-old will next face third-seed Australian Jordan Thompson, the recent Libema Open finalist (l. to Mannarino), or fifth seed and defending champion Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Later today, French 2017 and 2018 finalist Adrian Mannarino challenges Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, while fourth-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta takes on Bernard Tomic of Australia at the ATP 250 tournament.

Aussie Andrew Harris has never played in a tour-level match, but come Monday, he might be playing at The Championships. The 25-year-old reached the final round of Wimbledon qualifying on Wednesday, beating 17^th seed Sergiy Stakhovsky 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Stakhovsky famously upset Roger Federer in the second round of the grass-court Grand Slam in 2013. Harris, however, has his own compelling background story. The Melbourne native reached No. 6 in the world as a junior and won the 2012 Roland Garros and Wimbledon junior boys’ doubles titles with countryman Nick Kyrgios.

Harris ended his junior career after winning the Wimbledon title and then played collegiate tennis at the University of Oklahoma under coach John Roddick, brother of former No. 1 Andy Roddick. The Aussie helped the Sooners reach the 2016 National Collegiate Athletic Association final, falling to the University of Virginia Cavaliers.

Harris will next meet top seed Corentin Moutet, who made the third round at Roland Garros. The #NextGenATP Frenchman routed American Tim Smyczek 6-1, 6-3.

Attila Balazs, 30, is one match away from playing in his first tour-level grass-court event. The Hungarian was down 2-6, 1-5 and saved two match points from 4-5 in the second set to beat Illya Marchenko 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. Balazs retired in August 2014 and started coaching tennis, but he felt like it was too soon to be on the other side of the net.

Read More: Five Years After Retiring, Balazs Reaches Budapest QF

“It was just too boring,” Balazs said in April, when he reached the Hungarian Open quarter-finals. “I said that I’m too young for coaching and felt the motivation in myself to make a comeback. I felt that I had nothing to lose and obviously now I’m very happy with the decision.”

He has put the hip injury that made him miss seven months last year behind him as well. Balazs will next meet Spain’s Marcel Granollers.

In other action, American Noah Rubin, 2014 Wimbledon boys’ singles champion, beat Ecuador’s Roberto Quiroz 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 and will next play German Yannick Hanfmann. #NextGenATP Swede Mikael Ymer knocked out fan favourite Dustin Brown of Germany 7-6(5), 6-2.

Brown upset Rafael Nadal in the 2015 Wimbledon second round and, just two weeks ago, beat No. 5 Alexander Zverev at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. Ymer, who qualified and won his first Grand Slam match at Roland Garros, will meet Austrian Dennis Novak for a place in the main draw.

Read Feature: Brown Reflects On Zverev Upset In Stuttgart

#NextGenATP Aussie Alexei Popyrin, the fourth seed, will face American Bjorn Fratangelo in the final round as the 19-year-old seeks his Wimbledon main draw debut. The 6’5” Popyrin, who cracked the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings on Monday, beat 27-year-old Mats Moraing of Germany 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

Fratangelo, who played in the main draw in 2016, reached the third round by edging France’s Quentin Halys 3-6, 6-2, 13-11.