PORTOROZ, August 10, 2018

The defending champion of the Zavarovalnica Sava Slovenia Open is out of the tournament. Constant Lestienne of France rallied past 2017 Portorz winner and top seed Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in Thursday’s quarterfinal of the €64,000 ATP Challenger hard-court event.

Dominik Köpfer (photo: Vid Ponikvar / Sportida)

The unseeded Frenchman won 66 per cent of his first service points and broke his opponent six times to prevail after one hour and 57 minutes.

Lestienne will next face Dominik Köpfer, who continued his good run of form. In another night session, the 24-year-old German battled past Gian Marco Moroni of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Köpfer outpointed his rival 84-75 to appear in his second semi-final of the season after two hours and four minutes. The World No. 263 finished runner-up to Jason Jung at the San Francisco Open earlier this year.

Menéndez-Maceiras to take on Arnaboldi

Adrián Menéndez-Maceiras also advances to the stage of the final four. The 32-year-old Spaniard arrived at the Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort after reaching the final on home soil in Segovia and knocked off No. 5 seed Salvatore Caruso from Italy 6-2, 7-5. Menéndez-Maceiras didn’t face a break point, capitalizing on three of his own chances to finish the encounter after one hour and 39 minutes.

“The tournament is very much in my heart, I feel very well here in Portorož. In recent months I have been working on a new program and the result has already become visible,” the third seed from Marbella was happy afterwards.

Menéndez-Maceiras will take on the tournament’s No. 8 Andrea Arnaboldi for a spot in the final. The 30-year-old Italian eased past Aldin Setkic of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 32 minutes.-