Ryan Harrison did not break serve a single time on Thursday night at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, but he took a pair of tiebreakers from Ivo Karlovic to book a spot in the semifinals. Harrison prevailed 3-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(4) after two hours and 25 minutes of play.
The 169th-ranked American missed all seven of his break-point chances, but he came up big in the clutch moments of the tiebreakers. After bageling Karlovic in the first one, Harrison gave back two mini-breaks in the decider. At 4-3, though, he recovered for what proved to be the difference.
Harrison’s return at 4-3 in the third-set tiebreaker:
Next up for the 22-year-old is a third career meeting with David Ferrer. The head-to-head series stands at 2-0 in Ferrer’s favor, but both previous encounters went the distance. Ferrer won 6-7(6), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at Wimbledon in 2011 and 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 two summers later in Cincinnati.
Harrison has already picked up five match victories in Acapulco. In addition to beating Karlovic, he cruised through to qualifying rounds, got a third-set retirement from Donald Young, and upset Grigor Dimitrov 6-0 in the final set. Ferrer advanced with wins over Igor Sijsling, Marinko Matosevic, and Bernard Tomic.
The No. 2 seed struggled against both Matosevic and Tomic, and his match against the latter Aussie ended at 2:16 a.m. on Friday morning. So don’t be surprised if another Ferrer-Harrison showdown goes the distance for a third consecutive time.
Pick: Ferrer in 3
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