Ruud Races Past Defending Champ Baez In Estoril

Casper Ruud advanced to his first semi-final of the season Friday at the Millennium Estoril Open.

The World No. 5 produced a strong performance to down defending champion Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-0.

“It was great, particularly the second set, it was a great level by me,” Ruud said. “Very happy and pleased with that.

“Sebastian is a tough player. The score can sometimes lie a little bit. 6-3, 6-0 is not necessarily how it felt on court. But that’s tennis, small margins in this sport and when you have the margins on your side, some points, some lines here and there can go your [way].”

Ruud stuck to a deep return position and displayed pin-point accuracy from the baseline to put fifth seed Baez on defence. The Argentine will rue converting only one of his seven break points, four of which came in the second set. But the nine-time tour-level titlist Ruud held his ground to advance after one hour, 18 minutes.

“It’s my first semi-final of the year, it’s important for me to try to do well now and win some matches,” Ruud said. “This is a very good start to the clay season for me.”

Ruud will next meet Frenchman Quentin Halys, who continues to break new ground in 2023.

Halys advanced to his first ATP Tour semi-final when he defeated former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-4 to reach the last four.

“I’m playing really, really good at the moment. For me to be here in the semi-finals for the first tournament on clay is huge for me and I’ve played some really good players,” Halys said. “I’m so happy and I’m looking forward for tomorrow because I think I can do well again tomorrow.

“It’s going to be a tough one, but I’m really looking forward [to it].”

The 26-year-old saved the two break points he faced against Thiem and converted all three of his chances to triumph after one hour and 19 minutes.

It marked the end of a resurgent week for Thiem, who earned consecutive victories for the first time this season against Sebastian Ofner and Ben Shelton.

The Frenchman Halys is up to No. 64 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings from No. 80 at the start of the week. Last week in Miami he made the fourth round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time.

In other action, 2018 Roland Garros semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato and sixth seed Miomir Kecmanovic set a semi-final clash against one another.

Cecchinato improved to 10-3 in tour-level quarter-finals with a 7-5, 7-6(5) upset of third seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Kecmanovic ousted Bernabe Zapata Miralles 7-5, 6-2.

Kecmanovic won his only previous ATP Head2Head meeting with Cecchinato last year on clay in Santiago 7-5, 6-1.