The top four seeds were all eliminated Friday at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad, with Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, Casper Ruud of Norway, Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot and Arthur Rinderknech of France each exiting the clay-court tournament in Switzerland.
Quentin Halys of France completed a rain-delayed 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (5) upset of the top-seeded Bublik after returning to serve at 5-6 in the deciding set. Aleksandr Shevchenko also finished a suspended second-round match, beating Swiss wild card Dominic Stricker 7-6 (5), 6-2. Shevchenko later defeated Halys 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
No. 6 seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina rallied past second-seeded Ruud 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 after trailing by a break in the second set. Seventh-seeded Raphael Collignon of Belgium edged No. 3 Vacherot 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-5, while Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas completed the sweep of the top four by defeating fourth-seeded Rinderknech 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Nordea Open
Top-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev needed just 59 minutes to dispatch No. 8 Sebastian Baez of Argentina 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals at Bastad, Sweden.
Rublev converted four of his eight break opportunities while reaching the 50th ATP Tour semifinal of his career. The 2023 Bastad champion will next meet third-seeded Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, who advanced when No. 7 Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina withdrew before their match because of an injury.
Second-seeded Luciano Darderi of Italy saved three set points in the opening-set tiebreaker before defeating No. 5 Nuno Borges of Portugal 7-6 (9), 6-4. Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo claimed the remaining semifinal berth with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Italy’s Stefano Travaglia.
Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag
Spain’s Daniel Merida continued his run in Croatia by defeating Argentina’s Roman Andres Burruchaga 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals.
Merida secured his place in the second championship match of his career after losing in the final of the Tiriac Open in April. The 21-year-old broke Burruchaga early in both sets and won five of the final six games to close out the victory.
Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be Merida’s opponent in the final after rallying past Slovakia’s Alex Molcan 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Dzumhur recovered after dropping the opening set and finished the comeback in about two hours, 45 minutes. It will mark his first appearance in a final since 2018.
–Field Level Media
