Tomas Berdych held on to advance to the semifinals at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel ATP tournament Thursday. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI |
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The top two seeds in the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel ATP tournament advanced to the semifinals at Los Cabos, Mexico, but they took different paths there Thursday.
No. 1 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic was pushed hard before rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over seventh-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France.
Meanwhile, second-seeded American Sam Querrey rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over France's Vincent Millot.
Berdych captured the final five games to prevail in 2 hours, 7 minutes.
"It was a good test for me because he was really playing well and I had to fight for every point," Berdych said. "You appreciate these matches more than winning easily. I just had to stay patient and keep believing in myself."
In the semifinals, Berdych will oppose wild-card entrant Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia, who beat American Taylor Fritz 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Querrey needed just 61 minutes to eliminate Millot.
"I felt like I played aggressive and did everything right, so that felt good," Querrey said. "It's going to get tougher from here, but if I play like I did tonight, I'll have a good shot."
Querrey's semifinal opponent will be Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina, who edged fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2). Lopez blew three match points while serving at 6-5 in the third set, and Dzumhur cruised in the tiebreaker.