PUNE, January 4, 2018

Day Four of the Tata Open Maharashtra saw the top-seeds progressing to the semi-finals stage. Defending champion Gilles Simon came back from a set down to seal the all-French affair beating Benoit Paire 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in Thursday’s last match of the day. He will now meet top-seed and World No. 6 Kevin Anderson in the stage of the final four after the South African eased past seventh-seeded Spaniard Jaume Munar in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

In the other half of the quarterfinals draw, Belgium’s Steve Darcis sprung a surprise with a win over fourth-seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia winning 7-5, 6-2. Serving 25 aces, 39-year-old Croatian Ivo Karlovic went past World No. 95 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in straight sets 7-6(5), 7-6(5). Darcis and Karlovic will now play each other in the first semi-final on Friday.

RESULTS

Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals
[1] K. Anderson (RSA) d [7] J. Munar (ESP) 63 63
[3] G. Simon (FRA) d [5] B. Paire (FRA) 36 76(4) 64
[PR] S. Darcis (BEL) d [4] M. Jaziri (TUN) 75 62
I. Karlovic (CRO) d E. Gulbis (LAT) 76(5) 76(5)

Men’s Doubles – Semifinals
L. Bambridge (GBR) / J. O’Mara (GBR) d [4] G. Granollers (ESP) / M. Granollers (ESP) 64 36 10-6
Quarterfinals
[1] R. Bopanna (IND) / D. Sharan (IND) d L. Paes (IND) / M. Reyes-Varela (MEX) 67(4) 64 17-15
S. Bolelli (ITA) / I. Dodig (CRO) d K. Krawietz (GER) / A. Mies (GER) 62 64