Atlanta Open: Vukic, Humbert, Fritz storm into semifinals
Jul 29, 2023
Atlanta [US], July 29 : Australia's Aleksandar Vukic stormed into the semifinal of the ongoing Atlanta Open after defeating the local star Christopher Eubanks on Saturday.
Vukic reached his first-ever ATP Tour level semifinal by defeating Eubanks by 6-4, 6-4.
Eubanks was able to make a late charge. From being two breaks down at 1-4 in the second set, he could not convert on the breakpoint at 3-4.
Vukic's win has improved his head-to-head record against Eubaknks to 2-0.
After this upset win over the fifth seed, Vukic will be facing seventh seed Ugo Humbert, who has reached his second ATP tour-level semifinal.
Humbert defeated the defending champion and second seed Alex de Minaur by 7-6(4), 6-3 and won 13 successive points on serve.
Humbert is seeking his fourth ATP Tour title and his first one since 2021 in Halle.
Earlier, the top seed Taylor Fritz also produced a top-class performance to beat former world number four Kei Nishikori to reach the semifinals of the tournament. This is Fritz's seventh tour-level semifinal of the season.
The 25-year-old beat the Japanese Nishikori by 6-4, 6-2 in a match that lasted one hour and 13 minutes.
"I am super happy how I played today, getting better and better each day I feel like," Fritz said in his on-court interview as quoted by ATP.
"A lot of positives I can take into the next match. Kei has been around since I first started. He is an incredible player and a great guy. I am just happy to see him back playing again, having good results and hitting the ball well after being injured for so long," he added.
This is Fritz's first win against Nishikori, who had won in three previous meetings.
Through the first five games, neither player dropped a point behind their serve. Fritz later took advantage of his lone break point, which doubled as a set point in the 10th game of the opening set. As the match wore on, Nishikori did not seem at his physical best, using a medical timeout before the second set started for a problem with his left knee.
Fritz's next challenge will be JJ Wolf. The eighth-seed Wolf has not dropped a set all week and he beat Dominik Koepfer 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals to set up the clash with the top American tennis star.
The tournament started on July 22 and will end on July 30.
