Roberto Bautista Agut and Viktor Troicki will battle for a place in the Winston-Open final on Friday. The only unseeded player in the semis is John Millman, who will try to continue his run at the expense of Pablo Carreno Busta.
(9) Viktor Troicki vs. (2) Roberto Bautista Agut
From just about out of nowhere, Troicki has punched his ticket to an ATP semifinal for the first time since the Sofia Open back in February. The 35th-ranked Serb had lost five consecutive matches prior to his arrival at the Winston-Salem Open, but so far this week he has taken out Kyle Edmund, Sam Querrey, and Fernando Verdasco. Troicki, who is 23-20 for the season, missed out on a U.S. Open seed by just a single ranking spot.
Up next for the ninth seed on Friday is a second career showdown against Bautista Agut, who ended Troicki’s aforementioned Sofia run with a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the title match. The Spaniard has cooled off since lifting his second winner’s trophy of 2016, but he is still an impressive 37-15. Bautista Agut is back in another semifinal following defeats of Aljaz Bedene, Marcos Baghdatis, and Yen-Hsun Lu. The Spaniard was especially impressive on Thursday with Lu on the other side of the net, and he should be able to maintain that momentum against Troicki.
Pick: Bautista Agut in 3
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John Millman vs. (16) Pablo Carreno Busta
Carreno Busta and Millman will also be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season on Friday. Their only previous encounter came at the Miami Masters, where Millman prevailed 6-3, 6-2. The 81st-ranked Australian is in the midst of by far his best year on tour, with 19 of his 26 career ATP-level match victories. He is through to the Winston-Salem semis thanks to wins over Yoshihito Nishioka, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Bjorn Fratangelo, and Richard Gasquet.
Whereas Millman has survived a trio of three-setters, Carreno Busta did not drop a single set on his way to the last four. The Spaniard got a first-round bye and defeated Jan-Lennard Struff and Pablo Cuevas before taking care of Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-3 in the quarters. This is Carreno Busta’s second semifinal of the hard-court swing, having previously advanced to the same stage in Los Cabos. Still, the surface advantage goes to Millman–who should be able to extend his record to 2-0 against the world No. 49.
Pick: Millman in 3
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