Lorenzi Upsets Tomic In Quito

Sixth seed Paolo Lorenzi hit 25 aces to eliminate top seed Bernard Tomic 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Ecuador Quito Open on Friday. The Italian, appearing in his seventh ATP World Tour quarter-final on clay, used his experience to down Tomic (0-1 in clay QFs) in just over two hours. Lorenzi was propelled to victory by a strong serving performance. The World No. 59 won 91 per cent of first serve points against the Australian.

Facing Lorenzi in the semi-finals will be third seed Thomaz Bellucci, a 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-2 winner over Pablo Carreno Busta. The Brazilian, who has four career ATP World Tour clay-court titles, will appear in his first semi-final of the year.

Lorenzi holds a 2-0 edge in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Bellucci, with both wins coming on clay (2015 Buenos Aires and 2011 Rome). Bellucci took the pair’s lone ATP Challenger Tour meeting in a third-set tie-break against the Italian in 2013. That victory came in the quarter-finals of the Bogota Challenger on clay, in high-altitude conditions.

Defending champion Victor Estrella Burgos overcame stiff resistance from Renzo Olivo to win 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4. The Dominican, seeded fifth, won 101 points to his opponent’s 99 in the two-hour, 15-minute encounter. He is attempting to become the third player after Stan Wawrinka (Chennai) and Novak Djokovic (Australian Open) to successfully defend his title in 2016.

In the semi-finals, the Dominican will face Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who was up 7-5, 4-3 when Feliciano Lopez retired. Ramos-Vinolas was in the hospital on Wednesday due to illness and had to withdraw from doubles, but recovered to make the final four. Lopez was bidding for a 400^th tour-level victory.