The last time former World No. 1 Andy Murray faced Marius Copil, in Washington, D.C. last year, the Scot needed more than three hours in a match that went past 3 am. Murray even broke into tears — partially from the emotions of the moment, but also from the hip pain he was still dealing with.

More than a year and a hip surgery later, the Scot had another complicated match against the Romanian on Friday in Antwerp. And while it wasn’t easy, as Murray was broken while serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, he battled past Copil 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-4 to reach the last four of the European Open, his first semi-final since returning to the singles court in Cincinnati.

“I haven’t played loads of matches the past few years, so when you get to the end of the match, it’s always difficult to serve it out. I played a bad game at 5-3 in the second set and after that I think he gained a lot of confidence,” Murray said on court. “He served extremely well. He was being a lot more aggressive at the end of the second set and in the third, but thankfully I managed to get the break right at the end. It was a tough one to get through.”

Murray appeared to be in some of the best form he has shown since his return, fending off Copil’s booming serve and doing well to make the Romanian hit tough volleys as he consistently charged the net. But the Scot had to overcome a second-set slip to triumph after two hours and 36 minutes.

At 5-3 in the second set, Murray’s serve began to fail him. And he relinquished his break with a double fault, beginning to show his frustration. Copil capitalised, playing aggressively and putting pressure on the 45-time tour-level champion by rushing the net at every opportunity. In the first set-and-a-half, more points were contested from the baseline, where Murray was in control.

In the tie-break, Murray gained a 5/2 advantage and later had a match point on the Romanian’s serve. But Copil hit a booming serve and then followed it up with an inside-out forehand winner. Two points later, Murray shoveled a backhand off his back foot into the net to allow Copil into a decider.

Entering the match, Copil had pushed elite competition before. Last year in Basel, he earned both of his Top 10 wins, defeating Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev en route to the final before falling to Roger Federer. So it was not the World No. 92’s first time under the spotlight — not even close.

But Murray served far better in the third set, losing only five service points. He did not face a break point in the decider, and at 4-4 he threw in a surprising drop shot that caught Copil off balance, following it into net to secure the break. He hit his ninth ace on match point to move on, overcoming the Romanian’s 20 aces.

If Murray is to win his first ATP Tour title since 2017 Dubai, he will need to win four matches in four days. Including his second-round triumph over Pablo Cuevas, Murray has played three hours and 59 minutes over the past two days.

“I feel okay just now. It’s more how you feel the following day. The good thing about the indoor matches is that the points are fairly short, so it doesn’t take as much out of you as on some of the slower courts outside,” Murray said. “But I feel okay, hopefully I pull up well tomorrow.”

Murray will now face Ugo Humbert for a place in Sunday’s final after the #NextGenATP Frenchman rallied to defeat fifth-seeded Argentine Guido Pella 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Humbert broke serve at 4-4 in the deciding set before clinching victory after two hours and 25 minutes. The win puts the 21-year-old into his third ATP Tour semi-final of the year.

Humbert looks to qualify for a maiden appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals, held from 5-9 November in Milan. He is currently in eighth place in the ATP Race to Milan with 778 points, but will receive an additional 90 points for reaching the semi-finals in Antwerp. Should the Frenchman defeat Murray, he’ll grab another 60 points and move past Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (893 points) to take seventh place.

Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka let slip a match point in the second set of his quarter-final against former World No. 6 Gilles Simon on Friday at the European Open. But the Swiss star remained calm and found some of his best tennis to reach the semi-finals in Antwerp, his first trip to the last four on the ATP Tour since making the Rotterdam final in February.

Wawrinka, the fourth seed, broke Simon’s serve on five of his seven opportunities to advance past the Frenchman 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2 after two hours and 14 minutes. The 34-year-old is competing for the first time since the US Open, where he made the quarter-finals (l. to Medvedev).

“I expected [a tough match],” Wawrinka said. “I’m really happy with the level today, the way I was playing. [I was] serving well, I was staying strong mentally… I’m really happy with the match.”

The 16-time tour-level champion now leads Simon 5-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. This was their first clash since 2016 Shanghai.

Throughout the match, Wawrinka put his shotmaking skills in full display, ripping winners every which way as he maintained his position on the baseline. But Simon continuously tried to put the Swiss in awkward positions.

The Frenchman’s broke and then served for the second set, but could not close it out. And it appeared Wawrinka would ride that momentum to a tie-break victory to clinch the match. But Simon showed his swift movement to hold off Wawrinka’s aggression at 5/6, eventually forcing a decider.

Wawrinka shrugged off any disappointment he felt, though, breaking immediately to start the third set and saving the only break point he faced in the final frame to move on. In the semi-finals, he will face #NextGenATP sensation Jannik Sinner, who battled past 2018 Delray Beach titlist Frances Tiafoe in three sets earlier in the day.

Wawrinka learned firsthand how talented Sinner is at the US Open, where the teen pushed the three-time Grand Slam champion to four sets. The duo shared on social media that following the event, they practised together in Monte-Carlo.

“I really think at that time he was playing really well. He’s playing powerful from the baseline on both sides. He’s a great player already. He’s young and he can improve a lot, but he’s already tough to beat,” Wawrinka said. “It was a tough match at the time [of the US Open]. I expect the same tomorrow.”

Dominic Thiem enjoyed a breakthrough this past summer, when he won his first title on home soil at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel. He will look to continue his success in Austria at the Erste Bank Open, an ATP 500 tournament. Thiem, a winner of four tour-level titles this season, will be making his ninth appearance in Vienna, where he is a two-time quarter-finalist.

Matteo Berrettini, a recent semi-finalist in Shanghai, will attempt to strengthen his position in the top eight of the ATP Race to London with a strong showing in Vienna. Gael Monfils, Diego Schwartzman and Karen Khachanov, who trail Berrettini by less than 1,000 points in the standings, will look to gain valuable Race points in order to boost their Nitto ATP Finals hopes.

The field also includes Next Gen ATP Finals qualifiers Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, former World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov and 2011 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Here’s all you need to know about the Vienna tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who has won and more.  

Established: 1974

Tournament Dates: 21-27 October 2019

Tournament Director: Herwig Straka

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 19 October, 12:00pm at the Marriott

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: starts Saturday at 11:00am
* Main draw: starts Monday at 2:00pm
* Doubles final: Sunday, 27 October at 11:45am
* Singles final: Sunday, 27 October at 2:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: Wiener Stadthalle
Main Court Seating: 8,800
Surface: Indoor Hard

Prize Money: € 2,296,490 (Total Financial Commitment: € 2,433,810)  

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Brian Gottfried (4)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Hewitt, Anders Jarryd, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Lukasz Kubot, Frew McMillan (3)
Oldest Champion: Tommy Haas, 35, in 2013
Youngest Champion: Horst Skoff, 20, in 1988
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1978): No. 175 Anders Jarryd in 1990
Most Match Wins: Brian Gottfried (31)

2018 Finals
Singles: [2] Kevin Anderson (RSA) d [5] Kei Nishikori (JPN) 63 76(3)   Read & Watch
Doubles: Joe Salisbury (GBR) / Neal Skupski (GBR) d Mike Bryan (USA) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 76(5) 63  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #ErsteBankOpen
Facebook: @erstebankopen
Instagram: @erstebankopen
Twitter: @erstebankopen

Did You Know… Austrian Thomas Muster, a former World No. 1, never won the Vienna title, though he reached the final three times. Horst Skoff became the first Austrian to triumph here, with victory over Muster in the 1988 final. Jurgen Melzer joined Skoff on the honour roll with back-to-back singles titles in 2009-10. 

Roger Federer returns to his hometown tournament in pursuit of a 10th Swiss Indoors Basel title. The 38-year-old Swiss, who was a Basel ball boy as a child, has won 20 straight matches at this ATP 500 tournament and reached the final the past 12 times he’s played the event. 

“To come through and win again here in my hometown, never knowing if this might be your last time that you had the opportunity to play a final, maybe win for the last time here in my city, it obviously means a lot to me and it becomes very emotional,” Federer said following his triumph last year.

Federer will be joined in Basel by fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka, World No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas and a number of Nitto ATP Finals contenders, including Alexander Zverev, Roberto Bautista Agut and Fabio Fognini. Tsitsipas claimed the sixth spot in the elite eight-man field at The O2, leaving just two spots up for grabs with two weeks left in the regular season.

Here’s all you need to know about the Basel tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who has won and more. 

Established: 1970

Tournament Dates: 21-27 October 2019

Tournament Director: Roger Brennwald

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 19 October, at 4:00pm, at the Town Hall in Basel

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday & Sunday at 12:00pm
* Main draw: Monday – Friday at 1:00pm and 7:00pm, Saturday at 12:00pm
* Doubles final: Sunday, 27 October at 12:00pm
* Singles final: Sunday, 27 October not before 3:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: St. Jakobshalle Basel
Main Court Seating: 9,000
Surface: Indoor Hard

Prize Money: € 2,082,655 (Total Financial Commitment: € 2,219,975)  

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Roger Federer (9)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan, Daniel Nestor, Tomas Smid, Nenad Zimonjic (4)
Oldest Champion (since 1972): Roger Federer, 37, in 2018
Youngest Champion (since 1972): Jim Courier, 19, in 1989
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1978): No. 35 Jim Courier in 1989 
Most Match Wins: Roger Federer (71)

2018 Finals
Singles: [1] Roger Federer (SUI) d [Q] Marius Copil (ROU) 76(5) 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: Dominic Inglot (GBR) / Franko Skugor (CRO) d Alexander Zverev (GER) / Mischa Zverev (GER) 62 75  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #swissindoorsbasel
Facebook: @swissindoorsbasel
Instagram: @swissindoorsbasel_official

Did You Know… Each of the 12 years he’s reached the final at the Swiss Indoors Basel, Federer has thrown a post-match pizza party for all the ball boys and girls. Read More

Henri Kontinen/Edouard Roger-Vasselin continued their outstanding run on Friday at the Intrum Stockholm Open, saving three match points in a thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 16-14 semi-final victory over fourth seeds Wesley Koolhof/Fabrice Martin.

The Finnish-French pairing fought back from 8/9, 10/11 and 12/13 in the Match Tie-break to move closer to their first ATP Tour doubles crown as a team. Kontinen seeks his second ATP Tour doubles title of the year and Roger-Vasselin looks for his fourth.

Kontinen/Roger-Vasselin await the winner of top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau and third seeds Mate Pavic/Bruno Soares. Rojer/Tecau prevailed over Andre Goransson/Nathaniel Lammons 7-6(5) 6-2. Pavic/Soares, last week’s champions at the Rolex Shanghai Masters (d. Kubot/Melo), cruised through Radu Albot/Robert Lindstedt 6-3, 6-3.

At the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Simone Bolelli/Andres Molteni upset third seeds Marcus Daniell/Philipp Oswald 6-4, 6-4 to reach the final. They’ll face fourth seeds Marcelo Demoliner/Matwe Middelkoop or Thomas Fabbiano/Andreas Seppi in Saturday’s championship match.

European Open top seeds Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies encountered few problems in their 6-4, 6-3 quarter-final win over Sander Arends/David Pel in Antwerp. The German pair are aiming for their first title since prevailing at Roland Garros (d. Chardy/Martin) as they look to qualify for a debut appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.

Eighteen-year-old #NextGenATP star Jannik Sinner’s stock continues to rise.

The Italian teen reached his first ATP Tour semi-final on Friday, defeating fellow #NextGenATP player Frances Tiafoe of the United States 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to make the last four of the European Open in Antwerp. Sinner is the youngest tour-level semi-finalist since 17-year-old Borna Coric accomplished the feat in Basel five years ago.

“I just can say thanks for the wild card!” Sinner said on court after his one-hour, 42-minute triumph. “I think I played good today once more. It was not easy in the end. I was shaking a little bit. On the important points, I was serving quite good, and I’m happy to be in the semi-finals.”

Sinner is proving mature beyond his years, showing a steady composure throughout his run in Antwerp as a wild card. At a career-high No. 119 in the ATP Rankings, Sinner broke Tiafoe for 4-2 in the deciding set with a lasered forehand passing shot that forced a backhand volley error.

But the pressure mounted as he served for victory at 5-3, with a miss on a sitting volley on top of the net giving Tiafoe two break points. Sinner responded well, saving both of those chances with his serve, forcing errors off the American’s racquet. After eliciting a backhand into the net at deuce, Sinner finished off his win with another big serve.

“I tried to start well in the third set, and I think I served a little bit better in the third set. I think that was the key,” Sinner said. “Of course at the end I was shaking a little bit. I tried to reset after the easy volley in the last game and I served a very good first serve and second serve, so I’m very happy now that I’ve reached the semi-finals.”

Sinner struck 10 aces in the match and saved four of the five break points he faced to back up his second-round win over top seed Gael Monfils, which was his first Top 50 victory. The teen was already the youngest quarter-finalist in this event’s history and the youngest player to reach the last eight on the ATP Tour since 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime did it last year in Chengdu.

“I played against a tough player, of course. I tried to play my tennis. In the first set, it worked. In the second set, he was a little bit more aggressive, so I felt a little bit under pressure,” Sinner said. “I tried to play quite long, quite deep the ball. It worked very good today.”

Depending on results at other events this week, Sinner could potentially crack the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings on Monday for the first time. This week last year, he was World No. 778. In the semi-finals, Sinner will face former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka — to whom he lost in four sets in his Grand Slam debut at the US Open — or former World No. 6 Gilles Simon.

“Both players are very good,” Sinner said. “I hope I can play once more against Wawrinka, so maybe I can win this time, and I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Denis Shapovalov breezed into his fourth ATP Tour semi-final of the year on Friday at the Intrum Stockholm Open. The fourth-seeded Canadian overcame German qualifier Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-0, 6-3 in just 49 minutes.

Shapovalov barely put a foot wrong in the first set, which lasted 18 minutes and finished with a forehand winner. He won 21 of 22 first-service points in the set. Stebe struck a double fault to hand his opponent a 3-2 advantage in the second set, and Shapovalov clinched his 29th match win of 2019 with a smash winner.

On Thursday, Shapovalov qualified for next month’s Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. He has reached tour-level semi-finals this year at the Miami Open presented by Itau (l. to Federer), the Winston-Salem Open (l. to Hurkacz) and at the Chengdu Open (l. to Carreno Busta).

Shapovalov will next challenge Japanese lucky loser Yuichi Sugita, who defeated Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in a dramatic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(4) thriller. Tipsarevic, competing in the final ATP Tour event of his career, bravely saved nine match points in the deciding set. But with both men cramping and running on fumes late in the final set, Sugita refused to be overwhelmed by his opponent’s tenacity. He went on a five-point run in the tie-break before advancing in three hours and 10 minutes.

“This is one of the most emotional matches for me,” Sugita said. “I just tried my best.”

The victory puts Sugita into his first ATP Tour semi-final of the year. He now seeks his maiden win over the #NextGenATP Canadian after losing their lone clash two years ago in Basel.

Pablo Carreno Busta continued his fine late-season run of form earlier on Friday. The fifth-seeded Spaniard battled back to beat American Sam Querrey, who struck 16 aces, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 38 minutes. Three weeks ago, former World No. 10 Carreno Busta lifted his fourth ATP Tour title at the Chengdu Open (d. Bublik).

The 28-year-old will next play Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic for the first time at tour-level. The pair previously split two ATP Challenger Tour matches at 2013 Poznan and 2015 Braunschweig.

Krajinovic booked a place in the semi-finals by beating Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 6-3, 6-4 in 70 minutes. Krajinovic has a career-high 26 match wins this year, highlighted by a run to the Hungarian Open final (l. to Berrettini).

Roger Federer will return to Roland Garros in 2020. The 38-year-old World No. 3 shared his plans with CNN this week. “I will play the French Open,” Federer said.

The Swiss competed at the clay-court major this year for the first time since 2015, reaching his eighth Roland Garros semi-final before falling to 12-time champion Rafael Nadal.

Federer announced earlier in the week that he plans to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July as well.

Marin Cilic carved more history for himself on Thursday at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow. The Croatian earned his 500^th career win, beating countryman Ivo Karlovic 6-1, 7-6(5) to become only the 50^th player in the Open Era to achieve the milestone and just the 10^th active player with 500 or more victories.

Cilic raced through the opener behind two breaks and didn’t face a break point. In the second, Karlovic raised his level but Cilic fought through a tough 3-4 game in which he erased three break points and found a way to advance in the tie-break.

The two-time Moscow champion will next meet France’s Jeremy Chardy, who was untouchable on serve during a 6-3, 6-4 victory against eighth seed Miomir Kecmanovic. Chardy won 83 per cent of his first-serve points and never faced a break point against the Next Gen ATP Finals hopeful.

Sixth seed Andrey Rublev hadn’t won a match at his home tournament before this week. Now the 21-year-old is into the quarter-finals.

Rublev beat Belarusian qualifier Egor Gerasimov 7-6(3), 6-7(7), 6-2 to make the last eight at the ATP 250. Rublev saved six of seven (86%) break points and ran away with the deciding set behind two breaks of serve.

“I’ve known Egor for a long time and I know how he can play. His level does not match his ranking,” Rublev said of Gerasimov, No. 98 in the ATP Rankings. “He’s been showing it for the past couple of months. He is showing good results… against very strong players. He recently beat Matteo Berrettini. I knew it would be very hard.”

The Hamburg European Open finalist (l. to Basilashvili) will next meet Serbian lucky loser Nikola Milojevic, who beat Russian wild card Alen Avidzba 7-5, 6-0. Milojevic took the place of Daniil Medvedev at the top of the draw once Medvedev withdrew following his Rolex Shanghai Masters title on Sunday.