STOCKHOLM, October 20, 2018

Three of the top four seeds will appear in the semi-finals of the Intrum Stockholm Open. John Isner, the tournament’s No. 1, battled past fellow US-American Tennys Sandgren 7-6(8), 6-7(5), 7-6(2).

The 33-year-old fired 19 aces, winning four points more than his opponent to secure victory in two hours and 49 minutes. Isner will next face Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis, who rallied past No. 4 seed Jack Sock from the United States 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first tour-level semi-final since Vienna in October 2015. The encounter lasted two hours and 17 minutes.

Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-6(4). The third seed from Greece converted two of his five break point chances to advance in one hour and 35 minutes.

“I showed character and a bit more passion for every shot that I played,” said Tsitsipas, who saved two set points in the second set. “When I was a break down I concentrated hard. I played rallies and waited for an opportunity and put pressure on him to finish the points. In general, I was calm and I served pretty well today – much better than my first-round match. I’d like to push more and get more points in the next few weeks.”

Tsitsipas will next take on No. 2 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy, who benefited from the retiremen of South Korea’s youngster Hyeon Chung. Fognini was leading 7-5, 2-1 when Chung was forced to stop playing due to foot blisters.