Cerundolo sinks home hope Shevchenko for Almaty SF spot, Vukic upsets Tiafoe

p a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/francisco-cerundolo/c0au/overview'Francisco Cerundolo/a served up some swift revenge on Friday at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/almaty/9410/overview'Almaty Open/a. /p

p The fourth-seeded Argentine downed home favourite a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-shevchenko/s0h2/overview'Alexander Shevchenko/a 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the Kazakhstani ATP 250. Cerundolo, who fell to an opening-round defeat to Shevchenko in Shanghai just 13 days ago, converted three of six break points he earned to set a last-four meeting with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/gabriel-diallo/d0f6/overview'Gabriel Diallo/a. /p

p “I’m super happy. I knew it was going to be a really tough match,” said Cerundolo in his on-court interview. “We played last week in Shanghai and he beat me in a really close match. I knew he was playing super good, I told him that at the net. I knew what I had to do and I think I did it really well. I served well, and I’m really happy to get to another semi-final, and my first on hard courts this year.” /p

[ATP APP]

p Cerundolo won 92 per cent (24/26) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to his 65-minute triumph against Shevchenko. The 26-year-old, who won his third ATP Tour title in Umag in July, will now prepare for just his second tour-level semi-final on hard courts following his breakout run at the 2022 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/miami/403/overview'Miami Open presented by Itau/a. /p

p His next test in Kazakhstan is a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Diallo, who earlier upset second seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alejandro-tabilo/te30/overview'Alejandro Tabilo/a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 23-year-old Canadian Diallo, who has risen 19 spots to No. 99 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Almaty so far, will be competing in his first ATP Tour quarter-final. /p

p “I haven’t watched [Diallo] a lot,” said Cerundolo. “We warmed up today together, but I don’t think I’ve seen many of his matches. I’m going to watch a little bit of him [on video] and learn how he plays. I think it’s going to be a tough match. He’s huge, he serves really well, hits the ball really well. Here in these conditions, he’s going to be super tough.” /p

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p Top seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/a followed Tabilo out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage after a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/aleksandar-vukic/v832/overview'Aleksandar Vukic/a downed the American 6-2, 7-6(11) to reach his third ATP Tour semi-final. /p

p Vukic let slip four match points in a dramatic second-set tie-break, during which Tiafoe also earned two set points. The Australian World No. 85 made no mistake with his fifth match point, however, and he closed out for an 89-minute victory in which he sent down 13 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats. /p

p Awaiting Vukic in the semi-finals in Almaty will be third seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/karen-khachanov/ke29/overview'Karen Khachanov/a, who eased past home favourite a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/beibit-zhukayev/z09z/overview'Beibit Zhukayev/a 6-2, 6-4 in the final match of the day. /p

p [NEWSLETTER FORM] /p