Ruud, Basilashvili Complete Rain-Interrupted Munich Quarter-finals
Casper Ruud and Nikoloz Basilashvili will meet for the first time later on Saturday after both completed rain-interrupted quarter-finals at the BMW Open in Munich.
Second seed Ruud earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over eighth-seeded Australian John Millman in one hour and 31 minutes, having resumed the match by winning the first three games of the second set. The Norwegian, who is now 12-4 on the season, is through to his 10th ATP Tour semi-final.
“It was difficult,” said Ruud, who reached the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters semi-finals two weeks ago. “John is a very good player, who fights for every point. Luckily, I won the first set yesterday before the rain fell heavily. I re-started well and I will now get some food and be ready to play in the semi-finals. I will give everything I have.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]Fifth seed Basilashvili, who resumed his match at 5-4 in the first set against Slovakian lucky loser Norbert Gombos, won 6-4, 6-4 in 84 minutes. The Georgian clinched his fourth ATP Tour title in March at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (d. Harris), having saved one match point against Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.
Seventh-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff will be attempting to book his place in a first ATP Tour final on Saturday when he plays Belarusian qualifier Ilya Ivashka in the first Munich semi-final. Ruud and Basilashvili will play their semi-final not before 3pm local time.