World number one Andy Murray has reached his first ever Barcelona Open semifinal after outclassing Spanish tennis player Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Friday.
Great Britain's Murray was tested heavily by the 29-year-old Spaniard on the clay of Barcelona in the quarterfinal stage. The tennis player from Great Britain eventually made it past the world number 19 after a big battle 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
Last week's Monte Carlo Masters runner-up Ramos Vinolas had a 5-4 lead and was serving to clinch the win but couldn't hold on. Murray broke the serve of Ramos-Vinolas three times during the match and saved 7-of-11 of Ramos' break point chances.
Though the Spaniard did break the Briton more times in the match, it wasn't enough for him to touch the finish line first.
It was the longest match of the day, having lasted three hours. The two are now tied at one apiece when it comes to their head-to-head record. Ramos won their previous encounter -- which came last week at the Monte Carlo event.
Murray set to face Dominic Thiem
Rising Austrian tennis player Thiem is also through to his first Barcelona Open semifinal after a dominant quarterfinal showing. Fourth seed Thiem dropped just three games to Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-1 6-2.
World number nine Thiem converted 6-of-8 of his break point tries, while his serve got broken twice by the Japanese tennis player.
Interestingly, two of three games won in the match by world number 91 Sugita came after breaking the serve of the Austrian.
It took just 52 minutes for the clash to come to an end and for Thiem to defeat Sugita in their first ever matchup.
Next up for Thiem will be Andy Murray, against whom he has played twice so far. Briton Murray has a 2-0 edge over Thiem, having defeated the Austrian in their first two clashes.
The hope lives on
Fan favorite Rafa Nadal has gotten a step closer to winning his 10th Barcelona Open title after reaching the tournament's last four stage. The number three seed defeated Hyeon Chung from South Korea in a two-set battle 7-6 (7-1) 6-2.
Qualifier Chung threatened to win the first set as he had a 3-1 lead in the opener, but he fell short in that attempt.The first match ever between Nadal and Sugita lasted an hour and 44 minutes.
Horacio Zeballos leaving his mark
World number 84 Horacio Zeballos has found his way into the Barcelona Open semifinal as well after outclassing promising Karen Khachanov. Argentine Zeballos lost just five games on his way to handing a loss to the Russian 6-4 6-1 in an hour and 14 minutes of play.
Zeballos will certainly be looking to prolong his campaign in Barcelona, but it won't be easy. The Argentine is set to meet nine-time Barcelona champion Rafa Nadal on Saturday.
The two have met twice so far in their careers, and the head-to-head record sees both players winning one match against each other.
