ECKENTAL, November 2, 2018

2014 champion Ruben Bemelmans will return to the semi-finals of the Eckental Challenger. The No. 7 seeded Belgian of the €43,000 indoor-event battled past German wild card entry Daniel Masur 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a topsy-turvy encounter on Friday evening at the House of Sports.

Bemelmans sent down eight aces, winning 67 per cent of his first service points to advance in one hour and 28 minutes. The 30-year-old Genk native will next take on No. 4 seed Evgeny Donskoy. The World No. 100 from Russia stopped the great run of French qualifier Albano Olivetti with a 6-4, 7-6(2) win. The encounter lasted one hour and 26 minutes.

Gleb Sakharov, who also battled through the qualifying, rallied past Matthias Bachinger of Germany 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to reach his second semi-final on German carpet within three weeks. Sakharov, who finished runner-up to Filippo Baldi at the Wolffkran Open in Ismaning, broke his opponent’s serve four times to prevail after exactly two hours of play.

Up next will be compatriot Antoine Hoang. The 22-year-old Frenchman fought past Lukas Rosol from the Czech Republic 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. Hoang outpointed the former World No. 26 82-80 after one hour and 42 minutes.