Romania’s Marius Copil reached the first tour-level final of his career at the Diema Xtra Sofia Open after beating qualifier Jozef Kovalik 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday.

“I was just thinking to do my best,” said Copil, who fell in the first five ATP World Tour quarter-finals of his career. “I was very focused, I was in the present and this helped me to make the match more clear.”

It took Copil six attempts to advance to his ATP World Tour first semi-final, which he did by defeating third seed Gilles Muller on Friday. But it only took the 27-year-old one opportunity to take it a step further, ousting an opponent in Kovalik who was also competing in his first semi-final. The Romanian needed just 76 minutes to move on to his maiden championship match. 

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“It’s something I was dreaming about since the first day I started playing tennis,” Copil said of reaching his maiden final. “Watching the guys play major finals and being with them in the locker room made me want to play finals… I hope that it’s going to go well tomorrow and that it won’t be the last one.”

Copil is projected to match his career-high ATP Ranking of No. 74 by virtue of reaching the final, and can soar further if he beats either top seed Stan Wawrinka or qualifier Mirza Basic on Sunday..

The 27-year-old dropped just one of 25 points behind his first serve in his victory. The Romanian constantly threatened his 25-year-old opponent’s serve as well, earning a total of six break points across six of Kovalik’s service games, converting on three of those opportunities.

Kovalik played more aggressively as the match wore on, but Copil clinched his spot in the final with a volley into the open court.

Dutchmen Continue Pursuit Of Second Title In 2018
Fourth seeds Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop defeated Scott Lipsky and Divij Sharan 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the final in Sofia. The pair is attempting to win its second ATP World Tour title of the season after triumphing at the Tata Open Maharashtra (d. Herbert/Simon).

The Dutchmen had not won a match since their title in Pune when they arrived in Bulgaria. They will face the second seeds, Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya, in the championship match on Sunday.

DID YOU KNOW?
Copil owns two wins against opponents inside the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings in his career, defeating World No. 13 Marin Cilic (2012 Beijing) and World No. 19 Gilles Simon (2014 Brisbane).

Upsets reigned again on Friday at the Ecuador Open, but a strong favourite managed to avoid the bug and emerged as the favourite heading into the final two days of the ATP World Tour 250 event.

Second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Austria’s Gerald Melzer 6-2, 6-4 to reach his third semi-final in Quito and his first of the season. The 30-year-old Spaniard pounced on Melzer’s second serve, winning 70 per cent of those points (16/23).

Ramos-Vinolas will play in his first ATP World Tour semi-final since making the 2017 Monte-Carlo final (l. to Nadal). Ramos-Vinolas has fallen in his previous two Quito semi-finals, but he’s the only remaining player in Quito who has won an ATP World Tour title (2016 Bastad).

Ramos-Vinolas will next meet Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, who denied Gael Monfils his his second semi-final of the season (Doha) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Monteiro, No. 118, is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the year.

On the other half of the draw, Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena eliminated eighth seed Nicolas Jarry of Chile 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(5) to become the first qualifier (since 2015) to make the Ecuador Open semi-finals. The 24-year-old Granada resident overcame 14 aces from Jarry and will meet another qualifier Andrej Martin in the semi-finals.

The 28-year-old Martin continued one of the best weeks of his career on Quito’s red clay. A day after celebrating his first Top 10 win against World No. 10 and top seed Pablo Carreno Busta, the Slovakian qualifier won his fourth match in a row, knocking out #NextGenATP Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-4. Both players had their chances: Martin saved eight of 11 break points, Moutet 10 of 15.

Carballes Baena (2014 Casablanca) and Martin (2016 Umag) will both be playing in their second ATP World Tour semi-final.

“I’m really happy I could manage to win in two sets and save energy for tomorrow,” Martin said. “I really like to play here in these conditions… If I play well I can beat really good guys. I’m really happy that I’ve proved again that I can make good results in the big tournaments, the ATP tournaments.”

Roger Federer could reclaim No. 1 in the ATP Rankings next week, but the Swiss might have a difficult path to the historic achievement at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

The top-seeded Federer needs to reach the semi-finals to return to the top spot for the first time since 4 November 2012. But the 36-year-old Swiss might have to beat his surging countryman Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.

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Wawrinka is the fifth seed at the ATP World Tour 500 event, and appears to be well on his way to regaining top form. Wawrinka is in the semi-finals this week at the Diema Xtra Sofia Open in Bulgaria. Federer will face a qualifier in the first round and will meet either German Philipp Kohlschreiber or Russian Karen Khachanov in round two.

Federer first rose to the top spot 14 years ago on 2 February 2004 and holds the record for most weeks spent at No. 1 (302). If he makes the semi-finals, he will become the oldest No. 1, eclipsing Andre Agassi (33).

Federer moved to within 155 points of World No. 1 Rafael Nadal after claiming his 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month. The Swiss right-hander has previously played the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Rotterdam eight times, taking the title in 2005 and 2012.

Oldest World No. 1

_{* Nadal is guaranteed to stay No. 1 until at least 18 February 2018.
^ Federer is 36 years old as of 19 February 2018.} 

Nadal, who is not scheduled to play again until Acapulco in the last week of February, has held No. 1 for the past 25 weeks (since 21 August 2017). The Spaniard has been No. 1 in the ATP Rankings a total of 166 weeks since first taking over on 18 August 2008. Nadal is seventh all-time in most weeks at No. 1 in the history of the ATP Rankings (since 1973).

First and Last Day at No. 1

_{* Nadal is guaranteed to stay No. 1 until at least 18 February 2018.
^ 19 February 2018 marks 14 years, 17 days since Federer debuted at No. 1 on 2 February 2004.}

Federer has a 23-6 record in Rotterdam. In addition to his two titles, he reached the final in 2001 and semi-finals in 2003. His last appearance at the Rotterdam Ahoy stadium in The Netherlands was 2013, when he lost in the quarter-finals to Julien Benneteau.

Longest Gap Between Stints at No. 1

_{* February 19, 2018 marks five years, 106 days since Federer was last No. 1 on 4 November 2012.}

Should Federer make the semi-finals, his path hardly gets easier. Alexander Zverev could await in the last four, and on the opposite side of the draw, fourth seed David Goffin, who beat Federer at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals, lurks along with World No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov, the second seed at the ATP World Tour 500 event.

Did You Know?
Federer leads all players with an Infosys Under Pressure Rating of 258. Learn more in Infosys Scores & Stats.

One year ago this week, David Goffin made his first big run of what would turn out to be many in a career campaign, in Sofia, where he advanced to the final (l. to Dimitrov). This year, the Belgian is in a different location, Montpellier, but the result looks much the same.

Goffin reached the semi-finals at the Open Sud de France with an impressive 6-4, 6-4 victory against 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Karen Khachanov, the World No. 49, on Court Patrice Dominguez Friday.

It is the first semi-final of the season for the 27-year-old. The right-hander battled to the semi-finals seven times in 2017, winning five of those matches.

Goffin, who entered the match with a 2-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against Khachanov, did not face a break point, while earning 11 opportunities of his own (2/11).

The first Belgian to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals (2017) will face the winner between fourth seed Damir Dzumhur and the home favourite Richard Gasquet. He owns a 1-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against both players.

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DID YOU KNOW?
Goffin did not win a match in Montpellier before this week. The World No. 7 fell in qualifying in both 2010 and 2012.

Romania’s Marius Copil advanced to the first ATP World Tour semi-final of his career on Friday by remaining composed in a 6-4, 6-4 victory over third seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg at the Diema Xtra Sofia Open. One break in the ninth games of each set, proved to be enough for Copil, who struck 13 aces and lost eight of his first-service points in the 80-minute encounter. He’d previously lost five quarter-finals and now awaits the winner of Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik or Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.

Top-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka, who is bidding to captures his 17th tour-level title this week, challenges 2016 finalist Viktor Troicki of Serbia later today.

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Thursday was a dangerous day to be a seeded player at the Ecuador Open.

Four seeds, including the only champion the tournament has ever had, all fell in a wild day of tennis in Quito. Three-time champion Victor Estrella Burgos was the first to fall. The Dominican had been 16-0 in Quito, by far his favourite place to play.

But Estrella Burgos, who came back to beat Thomaz Bellucci on Monday, fell for the first time in the Ecuadorian capital, dropping his second-round match to Austrian Gerald Melzer 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Melzer saved three of four break points to improve to 2-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

“I want to congratulate my opponent, he played a good match… He attacked well with his crosscourt forehand,” Estrella Burgos said. “I have won three times here. I would be arrogant saying I’m sad today. How many players would like to have three ATP titles? I hope to be back next year.”

Melzer said: “He won 16 matches in a row here and the previous times we played, we always had a battle. I knew it was going to be a very tough match, and I knew I had to play very well to beat him here.”

Melzer will next meet Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who was one of only three seeded players to advance to the quarter-finals. The second seed toppled Ecuador’s No. 1 Roberto Quiroz 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Third seed Gael Monfils, playing in his first ATP World Tour match in South America, also needed three sets to move into the quarter-finals. The Frenchman beat #NextGenATP Casper Ruud of Norway 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Monfils is looking to celebrate his second title of the season after winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha during week one.

“I think Casper is a very talented guy… I’m very happy to come through,” Monfils said.

Eighth seed Nicolas Jarry of Chile reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final, escaping past Stefano Travaglia of Italy 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. Jarry won the ATP Challenger Tour event in Quito last September (d. Melzer).

But no other singles seeds who were in action on Thursday found themselves still on the Quito draw sheet at the end of play. Top seed Pablo Carreno Busta, World No. 10, fell to No. 156 Andrej Martin of Slovakia 6-4, 6-2 in just 65 minutes. It was Martin’s first Top 10 win (1-2).

“The biggest key for me was I had already played two matches here, this was my third match, so I was already used to these conditions,” said Martin, who qualified for the ATP World Tour 250, “and also I really like these conditions here.”

Fourth seed and 2017 finalist Paolo Lorenzi of Italy fell in straight sets to Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena 7-6(4), 7-5; and #NextGenATP Frenchman Corentin Moutet knocked out seventh seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-5, 6-7(3), 7-6(6).

DID YOU KNOW?
Estrella Burgos is the only player in ATP World Tour history with three or more titles at one tournament and zero titles at all other events.