Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan outlasted No. 1 seed Casper Ruud of Norway 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Eugene Korea Open Tennis Championships on Friday in Seoul.
Nishioka absorbed Ruud’s 10 aces and saved five of six break points to eliminate the second-ranked player in the world. His semifinal opponent will be American lucky loser Aleksandar Kovacevic, who rallied to beat countryman Mackenzie McDonald 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
No. 2 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain is also out of the competition, withdrawing due to illness. That allowed American eighth seed Jenson Brooksby to walk over into the semis, where he’ll meet fourth seed Denis Shapovalov. The Canadian handled Radu Albot of Moldova 6-2, 6-2.
Tel Aviv Watergen Open
No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic is into the semifinals after taking down Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Friday in Israel.
The Serbian is playing his first ATP event since Wimbledon in July. Pospisil made the draw as a lucky loser and defeated eighth seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands and Israel’s Edan Leshem before giving Djokovic a fight for one hour, 53 minutes.
Next up, Djokovic will face Russia’s Roman Safiullin, who defeated France’s Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-1.
No. 2 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia also advanced when British qualifier Liam Broady withdrew with an injury. In the semifinals, Cilic will face France’s Constant Lestienne, who upset American fourth seed Maxime Cressy 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Sofia Open
Top seed Jannik Sinner of Italy advanced to the semifinals over Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-2, 6-3 on Friday in Bulgaria.
Sinner had nine aces to Vukic’s two and saved six of seven break points. His semifinal opponent will be Danish fifth seed Holger Rune, who bested Belarusian Ilya Ivashka 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Italian fourth seed Lorenzo Musetti beat German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (3), 6-1. Musetti will face Marc-Andrea Huesler in the semifinals after the Switzerland native got past Kamil Majchrzak of Poland 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-3.
–Field Level Media
