Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina pulled off a third-set escape and advanced to the semifinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open with a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-5 win over top-seeded Taylor Fritz in Washington on Friday.
The match ended close to 2 a.m. local time.
Fritz served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, but Davidovich Fokina, the 12th seed, got the break and then held serve in the next game to pull even. Davidovich Fokina then broke serve again before closing out the win.
Davidovich Fokina squandered four set points — one at 5-4, one at 6-5 and two in the tiebreaker — before taking the opening set.
Earlier Friday, fourth-seeded Ben Shelton emerged on top in an all-U.S. matchup, beating sixth-seeded Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (2), 6-4. Shelton won 90 percent of his first-serve points and faced just one break point (which he lost) on his serve. He will oppose Davidovich Fokina in the semifinals.
On the other side of the bracket, seventh-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated 14th-seeded U.S. player Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 6-4, and France’s Corentin Moutet rallied past eighth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Generali Open
France’s Arthur Cazaux took down countryman and sixth seed Arthur Rinderknech 7-5, 6-3 in Kitzbuhel, Austria, to reach his first ATP final.
Cazaux, 22, fired off eight aces without a double fault and won 31 of 37 first-service points (83.8 percent). Ranked No. 100 in the world, Cazaux will face No. 1 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan for the title.
Bublik took care of the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4. Six days ago, Cazaux reached his first ATP Tour semifinal in Gstaad, Switzerland, and lost to Bublik there.
Plava Laguna Croatia Open
Spaniard Carlos Taberner toppled No. 4 Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2, 6-1 to reach his first career ATP final in Umag, Croatia.
Taberner, ranked No. 111 in the world, had a 26-11 advantage in winners and capitalized on Dzumhur’s 37 unforced errors.
Taberner’s foe in the final will be Italian second seed Luciano Darderi, who defeated third seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina 7-6 (6), 6-3.
–Field Level Media
