WAWRINKA MARCHES INTO SEMI- FINALS
RESULTS St Petersburg, Sept. 22: Stan Wawrinka beat last year’s St Petersburg champion Damir Dzumhur in straight sets to reach the semifinals on Friday.
The 33- year- old Swiss wild card beat the Bosnian, who was seeded sixth, 6- 3, 6- 4 in one hour and 11 minutes to level their head- to- head record at one all.
“The level of my play was good today and the win makes me feel positive,” Wawrinka said.
In the last four, Wawrinka will face Slovak Martin Klizan, the 2012 champion, who battled back from a set down to beat seventhseeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada 3- 6, 7- 5, 6- 3. Earlier on Friday, fifth seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut saw off Italian third seed Marco Cecchinato of Italy 7- 6 ( 7/ 0), 6- 3 in the pair’s first ever meeting.
In the semis, the 26year- old Bautista Agut will face the winner of the match between Austria’s French Open runner- up Dominic Thiem, the top seed, and the local crowd favourite Daniil Medvedev, who is seeded eighth.
SIMON BEATS GASQUET
In Metz, France, Gilles Simon finally managed to beat his fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet at the ninth attempt with a 7- 6 ( 7/ 4), 62, victory in the Metz quarter- finals on Friday.
Aside from Gasquet winning every one of their eight previous clashes Simon arrived in Metz out of sorts, with only a US Open first round win since reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon in July.