Berdych on course, Thiem crashes out
Tomas Berdych reached the semifinals at Shenzen Open with a victory in three sets over Jiri Vesely, while in the Chengdu Open, Dominic Thiem was defeated by Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-4.
Published : Sep 30, 2016 22:59 IST
Defending champion Tomas Berdych survived a second-set scare to book his place in the Shenzhen Open semifinals with a last-eight victory over Jiri Vesely.
The top seed clinched the opener on a tie-break, before being pegged back by his fellow Czech to set up a decider. But Berdych recovered to clinch the third in convincing fashion and come away with a 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-2 victory, setting up a clash with Thomaz Bellucci.
The Brazilian claimed the scalp of fourth seed Bernard Tomic, winning 6-2, 6-2, while Richard Gasquet saw off qualifier Mischa Zverev in two hard-fought sets, prevailing 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2).
Gasquet will now face Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Malek Jaziri 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
Thiem falls
The biggest upset at the Chengdu Open came as top seed Dominic Thiem fell to Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-4. Third seed Grigor Dimitrov awaits Ramos-Vinolas in the semifinals, while Karen Khachanov and Viktor Troicki will contest the other last-four clash following victories over Feliciano Lopez and Kevin Anderson respectively.
World No. 101 Khachanov has been on a fine run, having seen off seventh seed Joao Sousa in the first round before sending fourth seed Lopez packing on Friday.