PANAMÁ, April 6, 2018

The 32-man-draw has been whittled down to the final four at the $50,000 Visit Panamá Tennis Cup held on clay at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento Fred Maduro. With Carlos Berlocq and Juan Ignacio Londero two Argentines will go head-to-head in the first semi-final.

On Thursday, Berlocq defeated José Hernandez-Fernandez of the Dominican Republic 7-5, 6-2. The No. 4 seed saved four of the six break points he faced, capitalizing on five of his own chances to secure victory in one hour and 43 minutes.

“Nice win today and another step forward here in Panamá. Let’s continue like this,” Berlocq tweeted after his triumph in straight sets.

Londero, who battled through the qualifying, continued his great run this week with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 win over Jan Choinski from Germany, who appeared in his only second quarterfinal at ATP Challenger level. The 24-year-old from Córdoba won 61 per cent of the total points played to advance in one hour and 11 minutes. It will be Londero’s first Challenger semi-final since Perugia in June 2016.

2014 runner-up Blaz Rola will return to the stage of the final four in Panamá. The World No. 193 from Slovenia knocked out the tournament’s No. 3 Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Rola struck seven aces and broke his opponent three times to prevail in just under two hours of play.

Next up for Rola will be Andrea Collarini. The 26-year-old Argentine ended a four-match winning streak of Colombian qualifier Cristian Rodriguez. Collarini sealed a 6-4, 7-6 victory in two hours and eight minutes.