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Casper Ruud, the fourth seed at the Los Cabos Open, has reached the semi-finals on his debut at the ATP 250 level event in Mexico with two relative comfortable victories following an opening round bye.
The Norwegian, after storming past American Marcus Giron 6-1 6-0, dominated Portugal’s Nuno Borges for his 6-3 6-2 quarter final win.
“Yesterday and today it’s been feeling really good, so I’m happy to be through to the semi-finals,” the Norwegian former world No.2 said on making the last four. “I feel very good here in Los Cabos. I’m here for the first time, so I’m really enjoying my time and enjoying every day I can have here.”
Ruud converted all three of the break points he raised and saved the two he faced in the 67-minute match to roll into the semi-final where he takes on the second seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The Greek icon and defending champion, didn’t have it as easy and had to battle over 69-minutes to get past the American qualifier Alexander Kovacevic 7-6(1) 6-3.
The difference between the two was Tsitsipas’s serve who recovered from a 0-3 position in the opening set as Kovacevic’s level dropped, and as regards the semi-final, he shares wins with Ruud from their previous two meetings.
Meanwhile a second American, Alex Michelsen, looked set for a semi-final place when he ran off with the opening nine games of his quarter final with Aussie Jordan Thompson, the eighth seed.
However, the 19-year-old, ranked 74, was unable to capitalise on that excellent start against the more experienced player but did keep himself in touch and eventually failed to cause an upset, falling 0-6 7-6(1) 7-5 after two-hours and 39-mimutes.
He came close to causing that upset when he served for the match in the decider, but the Aussie broke back to claim the win after two-hours and 39-minutes.
“That’s probably one of the best comebacks I’ve ever had in my life, and [it was] in a quarter-final of a Tour event,” a delighted Thompson said. “I was saying to myself that I literally haven’t been in front until I hit the front at 6-5 in the third set. So, a long time being behind. I don’t think anyone would challenge my competitiveness.”
He will require all his competitiveness when he faces the top seed from Germany in the semi. Alexander Zverev was kept relatively busy by Thanasi Kokkinakis but never looked threatened by the Aussie as he swept through 6-3 6-4 after one-hour and 58-minutes.
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