Roberto Bautista Agut avenged three previous ATP-level losses to Ernests Gulbis by prevailing 6-4, 6-4 in the in the Kremlin Cup semifinals on Saturday. Bautista Agut broke once in each set and saved the only break point he faced all afternoon in the game immediately following his second scalp of the Gulbis serve. The two players, whose disdain for each other has been palpable in all of their meetings, had another interesting encounter following match point. Bautista Agut pumped his fist directly at the Latvian as they approached the net and Gulbis looked as if he considered not shaking hands.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyAckgpagCo]
Next up for the Spaniard is U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic, who overcame Mikhail Kukushkin 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Cilic struck 10 aces and earned four service breaks, all in the last two sets.
The Croat clinched a spot in the World Tour Finals when the Valencia Open draw was revealed on Saturday, while the two Erste Bank Open finalists are still looking to lock down places in the year-end championship. David Ferrer and Andy Murray improved their chances with respective semifinal wins. Ferrer outlasted familiar foe Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(3) and Murray took care of Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-3.
“I’m very happy,” Ferrer assured. “It’s my first final here in Vienna and because the match was very close. I am also fighting in the race To London. In the tiebreak, he was more dangerous than I was but in the important moments he also maybe got tight. In tiebreaks, you sometimes get lucky.”
The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will also be squaring off in the If Stockholm Open final. Tomas Berdych battled past qualifier Matthias Bachinger 7-6(7), 6-4 after Dimitrov ousted Bernard Tomic via a 6-3, 7-5 decision. Berdych endured a first-set scare, having fallen behind by a break before surviving in a lengthy tiebreaker. Dimitrov’s tense moments came in the second, when he trailed Tomic 5-2 only to reel off five consecutive games.
Some great defense by Dimitrov:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Qvflwpicc]
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