Top seed Richard Gasquet suffered a surprise 7-5, 6-3 loss to an unsung John Millman in the quarterfinals of the Winston-Salem Open on Thursday. Millman, ranked 81st in the world, broke Gasquet five times in the match to reach his first career ATP semifinal.
Millman is an unlikely contender this week. He was knocked out in the second round of singles play at the Rio Olympics, then had to get through the qualifying to make the main draw last week in Cincinnati. He won one main-draw match at the Western & Southern Open before falling to ninth-ranked Dominic Thiem of Austria.
Next up for Millman is a matchup with 16th seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, who knocked off Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-3. Second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut rolled past Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-2. The match was over in 61 minutes as Bautista Agut avoided ever facing a break point. He takes on ninth seeded Viktor Troicki who outplayed 15th seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the last quarterfinal match.
Paes-Begemann win
India’s Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann knocked out top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Nenad Zimonjic in straight sets to storm into the men’s doubles semifinals.
The unseeded Indo-German pair upset the Poland-Serbian combo 6-4, 6-4 in their quarterfinal that lasted one hour and 16 minutes. Paes and Begemann now face third seeds Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who got past Marin Draganja and Dominic Inglot 7-6 (12), 6-7 (4), 10-8 in their close quarterfinal match.
Kvitova advances
Petra Kvitova moved closer to a third straight Connecticut Open crown after defeating Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-1 to reach the semifinals on Thursday. Kvitova stormed past her Russian opponent as she looks to join Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki as a four-time winner in the tournament.
To do that she will have to take down top seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who had little trouble winning her quarterfinal match, topping Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-4. Swedish qualifier Johanna Larsson pulled off an upset when she beat second-seed Roberta Vinci 7-6 (9), 6-1.
Larsson had lost in the final round of qualifying for the tournament, and only made the draw when other players withdrew. "It always helps to play many matches and to play good tennis," Larsson said. "It helps keep you calm and you know when you go out there on court, you're going to be a tough cookie to beat." Larsson now has a semifinal matchup with Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Svitolina, the 10th seed, defeated Russia's Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-1.
Millman is an unlikely contender this week. He was knocked out in the second round of singles play at the Rio Olympics, then had to get through the qualifying to make the main draw last week in Cincinnati. He won one main-draw match at the Western & Southern Open before falling to ninth-ranked Dominic Thiem of Austria.
Next up for Millman is a matchup with 16th seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, who knocked off Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-3. Second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut rolled past Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-2. The match was over in 61 minutes as Bautista Agut avoided ever facing a break point. He takes on ninth seeded Viktor Troicki who outplayed 15th seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the last quarterfinal match.
Paes-Begemann win
India’s Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann knocked out top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Nenad Zimonjic in straight sets to storm into the men’s doubles semifinals.
The unseeded Indo-German pair upset the Poland-Serbian combo 6-4, 6-4 in their quarterfinal that lasted one hour and 16 minutes. Paes and Begemann now face third seeds Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who got past Marin Draganja and Dominic Inglot 7-6 (12), 6-7 (4), 10-8 in their close quarterfinal match.
Kvitova advances
Petra Kvitova moved closer to a third straight Connecticut Open crown after defeating Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-1 to reach the semifinals on Thursday. Kvitova stormed past her Russian opponent as she looks to join Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki as a four-time winner in the tournament.
To do that she will have to take down top seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who had little trouble winning her quarterfinal match, topping Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-4. Swedish qualifier Johanna Larsson pulled off an upset when she beat second-seed Roberta Vinci 7-6 (9), 6-1.
Larsson had lost in the final round of qualifying for the tournament, and only made the draw when other players withdrew. "It always helps to play many matches and to play good tennis," Larsson said. "It helps keep you calm and you know when you go out there on court, you're going to be a tough cookie to beat." Larsson now has a semifinal matchup with Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Svitolina, the 10th seed, defeated Russia's Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-1.
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