SCHWIEBERDINGEN, January 12, 2018

Daniel Masur is the last seeded player standing in the singles draw of the Südwestbank Tennis Grand Prix, held at the Tennis King Academy in Schwieberdingen. The No. 2 of the $15,000 ITF Futures event defeated fellow German Elmar Ejupovic 6-2, 6-3 on Friday afternoon to reach the semi-finals.

Masur, who lifted the trophy here two years ago, struck seven aces, winning 88 per cent of his first service points to advance in one hour and 24 minutes. Next up for Masur will be Maxime Authom. The Belgian veteran edged past sixth seed Adrian Bodmer of Switzerland 7-5, 6-4. Authom capitalized on both of his two break point chances to prevail after one hour and 27 minutes. Masur, Germany’s reigning National Tennis Champion, and the 30-year-old from La Louviere will meet for the first time.

Kevin Krawietz of Germany, who knocked out top seed Jan Choinski earlier this week, beat Patrik Nema from Slovakia 6-3, 6-2 to face compatriot Tobias Simon in the stage of the final four. Simon received a walkover after his opponent Christoph Negritu was forced to withdraw from the quarterfinals encounter.

Later in the day, Masur and Krawietz teamed up to upset the top seeds of the doubles draw, Grzegorz Panfil from Poland and Ukrainian Volodymyr Uzhylovskyi, 6-3, 7-6 in the semi-finals. In the title match the German duo will take on Sebastien Boltz of France and Kai Wehnelt from Germany.