Unseeded Renaissance: Pouille Leads Vienna SFists

Convention says that a tournament’s seeded players should make their way through the draw. Not in Vienna.

Lucas Pouille leads three unseeded players into the semi-finals of the Erste Bank Open 500 after ousting compatriot Richard Gasquet, 7-6(5), 6-1, in one hour, 31 minutes.

It was Pouille’s third victory in a row against his fellow Frenchman, extending his lead in the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry to 3-1. The 23-year-old is into his sixth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season (3-2) as he seeks his third title of the year (Budapest, Stuttgart). Pouille also defeated Gasquet in Marseille this February, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the final.

While the elder Frenchman, Gasquet, used his guile and consistency in the first set, it was Pouille whose aggression paid dividends in the key moments. Pouille used his overwhelming forehand to gain a 5-1 lead in the tie-break and never looked back from there, going on to break on three occasions in the second set.

Gasquet defeated second seed Dominic Thiem, the No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, in the second round.

Pouille will next play Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund, who advanced to his third semi-final of the year (BB&T Atlanta Open and Winston-Salem Open) by beating Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 6-2, 7-5, in 75 minutes. The pair is tied 1-1 in their Fed Ex ATP Head2Head series.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, who defeated Diego Schwartzman, 7-5, 7-6(6), will play in his fourth semi-final of the season. The German went down a late break in the first set, as Schwartzman served for the opener at 5-3. But Kohlschreiber bounced back to win four straight games to claim the first set. He then converted on his third match point in the second-set tie-break to move on in pursuit of his second title of the year (Kitzbühel).

The veteran will face the only seed in the Vienna semi-finals, confronting the winner of top seed Alexander Zverev and eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. If Kohlschreiber plays his compatriot, Zverev, he will enter the match with a 2-1 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, although both victories came in 2015 while Zverev captured his sole triumph this year in Halle.

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