Spain defeated Poland 2-1 in the semifinals of the ATP Cup in Australia Friday, thanks to a pair of singles victories from Pablo Carreno Busta and Roberto Bautista Agut.
Spain will next face the winner of the Canada-Russia semifinal, which will be held Saturday. Russia is the tournament’s reigning champion. The final is set for Sunday.
Busta cruised past Jan Zielinski 6-2, 6-1 on the strength of six aces. Zielinski had 17 unforced errors.
Agut had to battle in dispatching Hubert Hurkacz. The Spaniard won 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (5) despite being outclassed on aces 24-1. Agut compensated by converting a better percentage on service points (72.9 percent) and committing fewer errors (21 vs. 38).
Spain lost the doubles match, as Szymon Walkow and Zielinski paired to win 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 over Pedro Marinez and Albert Ramos Vinolas.
Melbourne Summer Set
No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal of Spain advanced via walkover when his opponent, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands withdrew with a foot injury. That sets up a semifinal matchup in Melbourne with unseeded Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, who defeated Slovakia’s Alex Molcan 6-2, 6-1.
On the opposite side of the bracket, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov will face American qualifier Maxime Cressy.
Dimitrov rallied to defeat the Netherlands’ Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-7 (5), 6-0, 7-5. A day after knocking out another American (No. 2 Reilly Opelka), Cressy beat Spain’s Jaume Munar 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Adelaide International
France’s Gael Monfils, the top seed in Adelaide, Australia, defeated American Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals.
He’ll face Australian native Thanasi Kokkinakis, who got past Mikael Ymer of Sweden 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-4.
Second-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov edged Egor Gerasimov of Belarus 7-5, 6-3 and third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia cruised past seventh-seeded Serbian Laslo Djere of 6-3, 6-2 to set up the other semifinal.
–Field Level Media