Maximo Gonzalez and Andre Goransson overcame Pablo Cuevas and Joao Sousa 7-6(3), 7-5 on Thursday to reach the Millennium Estoril Open semi-finals.

The Argentine-Swedish tandem saved two set points on serve at 4-5 in the first set and broke three times to triumph after one hour and 39 minutes.

Gonzalez and Goransson are teaming for the first time this week and will next meet Ben McLachlan and Raven Klaasen after the fourth seeds edged past Jonathan Erlich and Lloyd Harris 4-6, 6-1, 10-4.

Klaasen earned his 300th tour-level doubles win on Tuesday and is aiming to win his third ATP Tour trophy with McLachlan.

Krawietz/Mies March On In Munich
Third seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies continued to back up their Barcelona title win on Thursday, advancing to the semi-finals at the BMW Open by American Express.

The German duo saved all four break points they faced en route to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Roman Jebavy and Andres Molteni. Krawietz is defending the crown he won in 2021 with Wesley Koolhof at the ATP 250 event, with Mies missing most of last year due to knee surgery.

Krawietz and Mies will next play Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara after the British-Finnish team upset second seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek 7-6(1), 7-6(6).

Andrey Golubev and Fabrice Martin backed up their win over top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic by eliminating Ivan Sabanov and Matej Sabanov 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 34 minutes.

The unseeded pair will meet David Vega Hernandez and Rafael Matos in the last four after the Brazilian-Spanish upset fourth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop 6-3, 6-4.

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime survived a scare Thursday at the Millennium Estoril Open, overcoming Spaniard Carlos Taberner 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.

After a stuttering start, the World No. 10, who is making his main-draw debut in Estoril, began to outmanoeuvre Taberner as the match went on, pulling the lucky loser around with his aggressive groundstrokes in the second and third sets to advance after one hour and 55 minutes.

Auger-Aliassime also defeated Taberner last week in Barcelona. The 21-year-old will next meet eighth-seeded American Sebastian Korda or Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi in the last eight.

Earlier this season, Auger-Aliassime lifted his maiden tour-level trophy in Rotterdam before he reached the final in Marseille.

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In other action, Sebastian Baez showed his fighting qualities as he battled back to down third seed Marin Cilic 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 52 minutes at the ATP 250 clay-court event.

The Argentine, who reached the semi-finals at the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, has enjoyed a strong 2022 campaign, and is now into his third tour-level quarter-final of the year.

The 21-year-old advanced to the last eight in Cordoba, before he reached his first ATP Tour championship match in Santiago. Baez, currently at a career-high No. 59 in the ATP Rankings, is now 9-6 on the year on clay.

Baez will next play former World No. 7 Richard Gasquet after the Frenchman eliminated Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien 7-6(5), 6-2 in two hours and 11 minutes. Gasquet has fond memories in Estoril, having lifted the title in 2015.

Casper Ruud recovered from a slow start in his opening match at the BMW Open by American Express Thursday, edging Slovakian Alex Molcan 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals in Munich.

The Norwegian struggled to find his range in the first set as Molcan forced Ruud into errors with his brutal ball-striking and accuracy. However, the second seed started to hit with greater consistency and depth as the match went on to advance after two hours and 17 minutes in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

“It was a very tough test. I didn’t get off to a great start,” Ruud said. “But I was able to fight back and find my rhythm and luckily I was able to do it a little bit towards the end of the first set, which I still lost, but it gave me some confidence for the second set.

“I started the second set well, I broke him right away. The third set was really close and even but I was able to get the break. It gives me confidence I am able to win matches like these.”

Ruud, who reached the semi-finals in Munich last year, is the highest seed left in the draw following top seed Alexander Zverev’s shock exit against #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old will be aiming to bounce back from his disappointing Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-final defeat to Pablo Carreno Busta and win his second tour-level title of the season at the ATP 250 event, after triumphing in Buenos Aires in February.

With his victory, the World No. 7 has improved to 8-2 on clay in 2022 and will next play Botic van de Zandschulp in his fourth quarter-final of the year.

“It will be another tough challenge,” Ruud said. “I lost to him at the US Open last year. That was the tournament he made a name for himself and started playing really well. I need to be prepared for a tough match.”

The Dutchman swept aside qualifier Egor Gerasimov 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the last eight at a tour-level event for the third time in 2022.

Van de Zandschulp, currently at a career-high No. 40 in the ATP Rankings, won 86 per cent (24/28) of his first-serve points and saved the one break point he faced to seal victory after 69 minutes.

If there is anyone you can learn about clay-court tennis from, it is Rafael Nadal. Ahead of the Mutua Madrid Open, WTA star Naomi Osaka said she has been trying to implement something the Spaniard does into her own game.

“I think I stole one of the things that he did and I’ve been practising it recently,” Osaka said, without going into specifics. “It’ll either go really good or really bad. There’s like no in between. But I think as I’ve been doing it, it’s been going pretty well. 

“Honestly I’ve been wanting to watch the really good clay-court players practise because I feel like I’m the type of person that learns really fast if I see it up close, and honestly it’s a bit of a waste to have all these really good professional tennis players and not watch them. I’ve kind of wanted to see [Carlos] Alcaraz, so it’d be cool to watch everyone practise.”

The search for improvement is nothing new for Osaka. In Miami, the 24-year-old mentioned she had recently studied Nick Kyrgios’ serve in Los Angeles. 

 

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The former World No. 1 is happy to try to learn from others, but don’t expect to see her hitting reverse forehands with a follow-through quite like Nadal’s at the Caja Magica.

“[Can you] Imagine? I’ve actually been warming up kind of left-handed but I don’t think that’s a skill that’s going to show itself anytime soon,” Osaka said. “It’s just like for technical reasons. If I hit left-handed forehands, it’s easier to hit a backhand if that makes sense. 

“I know that every kid growing up playing tennis in the world has pretended to be Nadal at least once.”