British No.1 Cameron Norrie is through to the semi-finals of the Diriyah Tennis Cup after a straight sets victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Norrie followed up his first round win over Nick Kyrgios with a 6-4 6-4 victory over his Greek opponent in Saudi Arabia.
After breaking Tsitsipas’ serve early in the first set, Norrie took control of the match and eventually went 1-0 up, converting his fourth set point.
The second set played out in similar fashion, with the Brit taking an early break.
However, he was forced to immediately save a break point in the next game to ensure he stayed in the ascendency before seeing the match through in just over 70 minutes.
Norrie will face Taylor Fritz in the last four, after the American saw off Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 7-5.
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev made light work of his clash with Alexander Zverev, dispatching the German in less than an hour and a half.
‘Really painful’ – Medvedev explains injury setback in win over Zverev
Medvedev sauntered through the first set, but was made to work harder to wrap up the match, having to come from a break down in the second before taking the win 6-0 6-4.
The Russian appeared to sustain a serious injury early in the match, and speaking afterwards he explained what happened, saying, “I was running for the drop shot and slided not intentionally.”
“My knee hit my calf, but full power. It was really painful”, Medvedev said.
However, he recovered from the problem to progress at the tournament – where he will meet Stan Wawrinka next.
Wawrinka came from a set down to reach the last four with victory over Andrey Rublev.
After losing the first set in a tiebreak, the Swiss player struck back immediately, twice breaking Rublev early in the second before going on to level up the match.
In the decider, Wawrinka squandered one match point but made no mistake at the second time of asking. He forced Rublev to the back of the court with a powerful forehand with his opponent’s return flying out of play.
Highlights: Wawrinka beats Rublev to reach Diriyah semi-finals
The two singles semi-finals take place on Friday, as do two doubles semi-finals.
Saturday will see the final of both competitions.
‘I’m playing not bad for my age!’ – Wawrinka reflects on win over Rublev in Diriyah
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