Kevin Anderson and Hyeon Chung looked destined for a tie-break. Chung, one of the best returners in tennis, had broken Anderson to get back on serve and even the second set at 4-4.

But Anderson stayed focused. The fifth seed pumped himself up with a “Come on,” and on break point, he grabbed control right back from Chung, smashing a forehand up the line for the break. A game later, Anderson served out the match to reach his third semi-final of the season 7-6(5), 6-4.

“I felt the first set was really touch and go. I had to save quite a few break points. I felt I played some of my best tennis down on those break points. I think that first-set tie-break was really key,” Anderson said. “[In the second set] I did very well to reset, break him straight back at 4-all to go 5-4, and then played a good serve game to serve it out.”

Anderson saved six of seven break points against Chung, the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion. The South African will try to reach his third final (Pune, New York) of the year when he meets 21-year-old Jared Donaldson of the U.S., who will be playing in his first ATP World Tour semi-final.

Donaldson dismissed Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-1 in only 54 minutes. To say Donaldson was dominant on serve would be an understatement. The American won 100 per cent of his first-serve points (20/20) and 86 per cent of his second-serve offerings (12/14). In his three matches in Acapulco, Donaldson has dropped only 12 games.

“It’s a great start to the tournament so far. I feel like I’ve played really well throughout the week, and I think it has showed a great maturity to my game and how much I’ve improved,” Donaldson said.

DID YOU KNOW?
Anderson has the fourth-highest Infosys Serve Rating at 301.4, according to the ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD, powered by Infosys NIA Data.

He’s the youngest player remaining in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC draw, but he’s also the highest-ranked player. Now Alexander Zverev can add another adjective to his time in Acapulco: semi-finalist.

The 20-year-old German reached his first semi-final of the season on Thursday, cleaning up on serve to advance past Ryan Harrison of the U.S. 6-4, 6-1. The second-seeded Zverev saved all four break points faced, including three in the first set, and won nearly 70 per cent of his service points.

Zverev broke in the fifth game of the opener, but faced trouble not long after, falling behind 0/40 while serving 4-3. Zverev, however, reeled off five consecutive points, and served out the set two games later. He saw no such trouble in the second set.

Zverev, who won five ATP World Tour titles during his breakout 2017, including two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns, is still seeking his first title of 2018. Fans in Mexico will be treated to a blockbuster semi-final next as Zverev will meet either sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina or third seed Dominic Thiem of Austria. Del Potro leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-0, including his memorable comeback from two-sets-to-love down during the 2017 US Open.

Read More: Five Biggest Grand Slam Comebacks of 2017

DID YOU KNOW?
Zverev is 1-5 combined against Del Potro (0-1) and Thiem (1-4) in their respective FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups.

A year ago this week, Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas was on the doorstep of a second ATP World Tour title. The left-hander led by a set in the final of the Brasil Open before falling just short against Pablo Cuevas.

But the 30-year-old is back in Sao Paulo and into another championship charge, beating Brazilian qualifier Guilherme Clezar 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to advance to his second quarter-final of the season.

“I’m happy. I’ve been working a lot on my serve and I didn’t have the results yet,” said Ramos-Vinolas, who hit 14 aces and lost just three points on his first serve. “So today I think is the first day in the season that I can say that I served really good.”

Ramos-Vinolas, who is No. 22 in the ATP Rankings, advanced to his sixth ATP World Tour final (1-5) earlier this year at the Ecuador Open in Quito, where he lost to first-time trophy winner Roberto Carballes Baena. The 30-year-old will next face Chilean Nicolas Jarry, who ousted sixth seed Guido Pella 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(2).

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“I expect a difficult match with no rhythm like last week,” said Ramos-Vinolas, who lost their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting last week in Rio de Janeiro. “I hope to be more ready than last week. I know how he plays a little bit more and I will try to fight every single ball.”

The 22-year-old Jarry has certainly made his mark on the ATP World Tour in 2018. Since reaching his first tour-level quarter-final in Quito earlier this month, Jarry has also made the semi-finals in Rio (l. to Schwartzman) and now the final eight in Sao Paulo.

“It’s amazing. It’s what everybody wants to do, not lose in first rounds,” Jarry said. “[You] win some matches, you gain a lot of confidence and now that I started this year playing at the ATP [World Tour] level and I’ve done these great results, I’m very happy and I’ll try to keep on going in this tournament as far as possible.”

Did You Know?
Jarry had won five tour-level matches prior to 2018. He now has 10 victories this season alone.

Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka announced on Thursday that he will not play the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells or the Miami Open presented by Itau in order to continue his recovery from a knee cartilage injury that required two surgeries last August.

“They are both amazing events, but coming back from a big surgery after having played a few tournaments, I have discussed with my team that it is best for me to build on the progress and go back to practice,” Wawrinka said in a statement. “I’ve enjoyed being back on Tour playing matches and this gives me even more motivation to go back on the practice court. My goal is to find my highest level again and in order to do that I will keep working hard every single day.”

The Swiss superstar returned earlier this year after six months on the sidelines, competing in four tour-level events — the Australian Open, the Diema Xtra Sofia Open is Bulgaria, the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam and the Open 13 Provence in Marseille. His best performance was a semi-final showing in Sofia (l. to Basic).

“I need to be patient and give my body the time it needs, but as of now my goal is to come back on clay,” Wawrinka said. “I love that part of the season and hope to be ready by then. I want to thank all my fans who are always a great support. I’m working hard on and off the court and hope to be back within a few weeks.”

Defending champions and second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau booked their spots in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals on Thursday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. The Dutch-Romanian team has a 16-4 record in finals, including a 5-1 mark in ATP World Tour 500 title matches. Rojer and Tecau will next face third seeds Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram or Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop.

Leander Paes moved to within two match wins of 750 victories on day four, partnering Jamie Cerretani to a 2-6, 6-4, 10-7 result over fourth seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus. They will now prepare to face Damir Dzumhur and Filip Krajinovic in Friday’s semi-finals.

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