Viktor Troicki’s comeback from a one-year suspension reached new heights on Friday at the Erste Bank Open as he reached an ATP semifinal for the first time since his return. Troicki could not quite finish off Thomaz Bellucci in straight sets, but the Serb held on to get the job done 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 6-2. Next up for him is No. 2 seed Andy Murray, who took care of Jan-Lennard Struff 6-2, 7-5. Murray fired 10 aces while double-faulting just once and he won 87 percent of his first-serve points.
In the other semifinal, David Ferrer and Philipp Kohlschreiber will wage a rematch of a Cincinnati thriller in which Ferrer saved two match points in the second set before prevailing in a third-set tiebreaker. The Spaniard advanced on Friday in Vienna by taking down Ivo Karlovic 7-6(5), 6-4. Ferrer faced no break points and withstood 17 Karlovic aces. Kohlschreiber defeated Benjamin Becker 6-4, 7-6(3).
Another installment of what is a heated rivalry between Ernests Gulbis and Roberto Bautista Agut will take place on Saturday at the Kremlin Cup. Gulbis won eight fewer points in his win over Seppi, but he won the ones that mattered most while firing 17 aces. Bautista Agut had an easier time with Ricardas Berankis, who had upset No. 1 Milos Raonic in the second round. The Spaniard prevailed 7-5, 6-3 and saved 12 of 13 break points in the process.
Marin Cilic and Mikhail Youzhny also earned victories on Friday. Cilic, the reigning U.S. Open champion, rolled over Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-3 while striking 10 aces and breaking serve four times. The Croat cannot move up from No. 8 in the world this week, but he is gaining points in an effort to clinch a World Tour Finals berth. Kukushkin disappointed the home crowd by knocking out Russia’s own Mikhail Youzhny 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-0.
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Bernard Tomic’s first tournament with Xavier Malisse in his coaching corner continued on Friday with a 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) over Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals of the If Stockholm Open. Tomic, Tomas Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov, and Matthias Bachinger booked spots in the Stockholm semifinals, but nobody had it tougher than the 21-year-old Australian. He bounced back from a first-set bagel to triumph over Verdasco in exactly two hours. Dimitrov and Bachinger also needed three sets, but not a final-set tiebreaker.
“I’m very happy with myself,” Tomic assured. “It was a very tough match. I had to turn it around in the second set, so it was very difficult for me. If you lose a set 6-0, to be able to turn it around is very important. I think he was playing very good; I had no chance. I kept trying and I had an opportunity when he played one bad game. I took it, which was important for me.”
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