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.

Returning to the ATP Tour this week at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, Novak Djokovic learned the path to his record-extending 39th ATP Masters 1000 crown on Friday.

The top-seeded Serbian could face in-form Italian Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals and is seeded to meet Miami champion Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo. Djokovic, who is aiming to consolidate his position at No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, will open against Brandon Nakashima or Mackenzie McDonald.

The World No. 1 could then play 16th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the third round. The 35-year-old defeated Musetti in a five-set thriller at Roland Garros in 2021. Djokovic is a two-time champion in the Principality, having triumphed in 2013 and 2015.

Jannik Sinner arrives in Monte-Carlo off the back of a run to his second ATP Masters 1000 final in Miami. He begins his first clay-court tournament of 2023 against Diego Schwartzman or David Goffin.

Medvedev holds a 29-3 record on the season, having lifted four trophies this year. Chasing his maiden title on clay, the third seed will play Italian wild card Lorenzo Sonego or a qualifier in his opening match and is seeded to meet German Alexander Zverev in the third round. Medvedev is first in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Holger Rune, who claimed his maiden Masters 1000 crown in Paris last year, is a potential quarter-final opponent for Medvedev. The sixth seed starts against former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem, a wild card, or Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Cameron Norrie or Matteo Berrettini are potential third-round opponents for the Dane.

Chasing his third consecutive title in Monte-Carlo, Stefanos Tsitsipas anchors the bottom half of the draw.

The second seed, who holds a 12-2 record in the Principality, will meet Benjamin Bonzi or Bernabe Zapata Miralles in his opening match and is seeded to play eighth-seeded American Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals. Fritz begins against 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka or Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.

Fourth seed Casper Ruud has lifted eight of his nine tour-level trophies on clay. Looking to kick start his season in Monte-Carlo, the 2021 semi-finalist plays Botic van de Zandschulp or a qualifier in his first match and could meet former World No. 1 Andy Murray in the third round. Fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who reached the Monte-Carlo final in 2021, is a potential quarter-final opponent for the Norwegian.

Murray plays 14th seed Alex de Minaur in the first round, while Miami semi-finalist Karen Khachanov takes on 2022 Monte-Carlo finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. #NextGenATP American Ben Shelton faces Grigor Dimitrov.

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind regarding the clay-court season?

Perhaps it is the picturesque Monte-Carlo Country Club or Rafael Nadal’s hold of 14 Roland Garros trophies.

But to Dominic Thiem, this time of year brings feelings of his ‘first love’. For Lorenzo Musetti, it’s dirty socks.

The 21-year-old Italian was among those featured in the latest ATP Uncovered, where players gave their predictions for the 2023 clay-court swing.

Who will have the most successful swing on the red dirt?

Alexander Zverev joked: “I’m going to say Rafa, [he’s dominated] for like the last 458 years!”

Learn what else stars including Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Holger Rune predicted for the clay-court season in the full video above from this week’s ATP Uncovered.

Daniel Evans moved closer to capturing his first title of the season on Friday in Marrakech.

The Briton defeated Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori 6-3 7-5 to reach the semi-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II. The second seed will next play Roberto Carballes Baena, who downed fourth seed Tallon Griekspoor 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

“I played a bit better today than yesterday and that’s important,” Evans said in his on-court interview. “It’s pleasing as well to get another win. He’s been playing very well. He’d come through qualifying. He has a very, very good game for every surface, but very different for this surface.

“So it was a difficult match and I had to focus really hard and I’m happy I played very well and won.”

Evans arrived in Morocco searching for form, having lost six consecutive matches. But the 32-year-old is now two wins from claiming his second ATP Tour trophy.

On Friday evening, Frenchman Alexandre Muller earned his career-best win by upsetting World No. 21 and top seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

Muller will meet Pavel Kotov in the last four. Should the 26-year-old Muller advance to his maiden tour-level final, he will crack the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time.

“It’s my first semi-final on the ATP Tour so I’m very happy today,” Muller said. “I’m playing very well so I will try to continue like this.”

Kotov, 24, escaped Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(3). Despite letting slip a 4/0 lead in the second-set tie-break, Kotov held his nerve to earn a two-hour, 53-minute victory and advance to his first tour-level semi-final.

Should Kotov reach the Marrakech final, he would return to the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

The dominant run of third seeds Gonzalo Escobar and Fabien Reboul continued on Thursday at the Millennium Estoril Open. The Ecuadorian/French pair defeated Joao Sousa and Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semi-finals with the loss of just eight games in two matches.

In their opening match on Wednesday, Escobar/Reboul cruised past Marco Cecchinato and Quentin Halys 6-0, 6-3. After a day off, they will seek to continue their run on Saturday against Serbians Nikola Cacic and Miomir Kecmanovic. Cacic/Kecmanovic also advanced on Thursday with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-4 win against Diego Hidalgo and Cristian Rodriguez, while fourth seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen progressed to the semis via walkover.

The fourth doubles quarter-final spot will be claimed on Friday, when home favourites Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral meet Robin Haase and Philipp Oswald.

Match Tie-Breaks In Marrakech
Two of the three Thursday doubles matches at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech were decided by Match Tie-breaks. Third-seeded Austrians Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler survived a scare against Czechs Roman Jebavy and Adam Pavlasek, coming from behind to advance 4-6, 6-1, 13-11.

Erler/Miedler will face fifth seeds Maxime Cressy and Albano Olivetti in the semis after the American-French team beat home-favourite Moroccans Elliot Benchetrit and Adam Moundir 6-4, 6-3.

Indians N.Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan edged Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-8. Their semi-final opponents will be determined on Friday, when Marcelo Demoliner and Andrea Vavassori meet Sander Arends and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.

After Wednesday came and went without the completion of a full match at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, rain continued to wreak havoc on the Houston schedule on Thursday. At 6:10 p.m. local time, tournament organizsers cancelled the day’s play, once again without a match being played to completion.

Play was twice interrupted on Thursday, with Gijs Brouwer leading fourth seed John Isner 6-4, 5-6 before play was suspended for the second time at 3:41 p.m. on the stadium court. Fifth seed J.J. Wolf and Denis Kudla were knotted at 4-4 on Court 3 when play was stopped.

All eight second-round matches were on the Thursday schedule in Houston, as well as the conclusion of the opening-round match between Max Purcell and Daniel Altmaier, which Purcell led 6-4, 3-6, 4-3 when Wednesday’s play was suspended.

Daniel Evans snapped a six-match losing streak on Thursday when he overcame Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-1, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II.

Making his second appearance at the ATP 250 clay-court event in Marrakech, Evans dictated the baseline exchanges in the heavy conditions. He found great depth on his groundstrokes and saved both break points he faced to advance after 76 minutes.

“It was a tough match. I played well,” Evans said. “I haven’t won for a few tournaments, so it was important to win again. I enjoyed the match and it was good fun. I really like Marrakech, that is why I came back.”

The second seed Evans now leads Popyrin 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series and will next face Andrea Vavassori or Jaume Munar.

In other action, Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor moved past Elias Ymer 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to his third quarter-final of the year. The 26-year-old, who triumphed in Pune in January, will next meet Roberto Carballes Baena.

Christopher O’Connell also advanced, defeating third-seeded Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-0. The Australian recovered from squandering a 5-0 lead in the first set to eventually advance after two hours and 43 minutes.

Dominic Thiem produced his best performance of the season on Thursday at the Millennium Estoril Open where he cruised past #NextGenATP American Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-2 to reach his first quarter-final of the year.

The Austrian earned a confidence-boosting victory against countryman Sebastian Ofner in the first round and backed that up with a dominant display against Shelton. He crushed the ball off both wings to overpower the American, earning consecutive tour-level wins for the first time since he advanced to the semi-finals in Antwerp in October.

“The higher the ball bounces the better for me. Today was great with the warm weather,” Thiem said in his on-court interview following his 63-minute win. “Not windy. The courts are pretty fast and dry and take the spin very well. It suites my game pretty good and I am excited to play the quarter-finals tomorrow.

“I am playing better and better. Just the results in the first part of the season were not there. This part of the season I love it. The European clay-court season.”

The former World No. 3 will aim to continue his run when he takes on fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut or Quentin Halys in the last eight. Thiem is up eight spots to No. 103 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and will crack the Top 100 again if he reaches the semi-finals in Estoril.

Thiem holds a 3-8 record for the year after Thursday’s win, which he will hope is the catalyst for improved results. The Austrian, who reached the Roland Garros final in 2018 and 2019, has historically excelled on clay. He has won 10 of his 17 tour-level crowns on the surface.

Shelton this week was making his tour-level debut on clay. The 20-year-old, currently No. 39 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, has enjoyed a standout start to the season, highlighted by his run to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open.

“He was coming up so far last year and this year with great results,” Thiem said when asked about Shelton. “It was only his second match on a clay court. I had a lot of respect going into the match, the way he serves and his athletic abilities. The balls are coming really fast, so I was trying to use my clay-court experience today and it was very good.”

Later on Thursday, Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles earned a comeback victory against second seed Hubert Hurkacz, 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-2. By beating the World No. 12, Zapata Miralles scored his biggest career win by measure of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and picked up his second Top 20 victory after beating Taylor Fritz last year at Roland Garros.

Hurkacz fell short of what would have been his 27th tour-level quarter-final and his third on clay; he reached the last eight in both Monte Carlo and Madrid last season.

Zapata Miralles will meet Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarters after the Serbian cruised past Austrian Jurij Rodionov 6-0, 6-1 to continue his perfect debut week in Estoril.

The sixth seed was ruthless throughout the 64-minute encounter at the clay-court event, pulling the World No. 120 around with his dynamic shotmaking to reach his third quarter-final of the season. Kecmanovic has not lost a set in his two Estoril victories, beginning with a straight-sets win against Luca Nardi in the first round.