Joao Sousa of Portugal reached his first ATP Tour semi-final since 2009 on Friday, beating fifth-seeded Daniel Altmaier 6-2, 6-3 at the Tata Open Maharashtra.
The Portuguese, who is participating for the first time in Pune, followed up his hard-fought three-set victory over third seed Gianluca Mager with an excellent performance against Altmaier to surprise another top seed at the ATP 250. Sousa saved the only point from break to win after 74 minutes.
“Today was a great match,” Sousa said after the match. “I think I played well, very solid. I knew it was going to be tough, so I prepared myself to do a lot of running. I am very satisfied with the way I competed and I am happy to be in the semi-finals.”
With his victory, the Portuguese signs his 20th semifinal in an ATP Tour tournament. It is the first time he has reached this round since he did it in Saint Petersburg three years ago. The two-time ATP Tour champion will meet Sweden’s Elias Ymer in the next round, from qualifying, who defeated eighth seed Stefano Travaglia 6-4, 7-6(4) to extend a dream week.
Ymer, who recorded his first Top 20 win against Aslan Karatsev in the second round, hit 10 aces to beat Travaglia in 89 minutes. It is the first time Ymer has reached a semi-final at an ATP Tour tournament.
In another match of the day, sixth-seeded Emil Ruusuvuori maintained his strong start to the season by beating reigning champion Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-4 to reach his second semi-final of the year.
The Finn, who had already cracked the top four at the Melbourne Summer Set in January, won 84% of first serve points (27/32) against Vesely to advance in 78 minutes. The Scandinavian now leads the ATP Head2Head record 2-0 against the Czech.
Ruusuvuori is seeking his first ATP Tour title this week and will face Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in the next round. The World No. 95 defeated #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4 after two hours and 15 minutes to book a place in his first ATP Tour semi-final.
“The feeling is fantastic, said Majchrzak. “I have been working and waiting for this opportunity to make my mark on the ATP Tour. I feel very happy about it, especially for having beaten a very talented player like Lorenzo today. I’m proud to have mastered my emotions in the end.”
