PADOVA, July 3, 2015

Only one seeded player made it into the stage of the final four on very hot quarterfinals Friday at the ATP Challenger in Padova.

The tournament’s number four Albert Montaῆes defeated Hans Podlipnik-Castillo, winning 7-5, 6-4 to reach his third consecutive semi-final on the ATP Challenger Tour, following the events in Fürth and Prague, in which he both ended as runner-up. In Padova, the 34-year-old Spaniard saved both break points he had to face and capitalized on four of his own to close the first meeting with the Chilean after one hour and 35 minutes.

Albert Montanes (photo: Lodovica Barbiero)

Montaῆes will take on Federico Gaio next, who cruise past Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, winning in only 51 minutes 6-0, 6-3. The Italian qualifier fired ten aces and ended the match without facing a break point.

Federico Gaio (photo: Lodovica Barbiero)

Calvin Hemery upset third seed Marco Cecchinato. The 20-year-old Frenchman won 68% of his first service points, winning 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 16 minutes.

Andrej Martin made it two out of two, winning the second meeting with Alessandro Giannessi 6-2, 7-6. The 25-year-old Slovakian won 80% of his first service points to advance to his first semi-final of the season after one hour and 52 minutes.

“Today was a very hot day. I cannot remember that I have ever played in conditions like those,” Martin told afterwards. “Luckily I was able to close the match in two sets. A third would have been really tough.”