BUDAPEST, April 26, 2019

Matteo Berrettini advanced to his third semi-final on the ATP Tour. The 23-year-old Italian edged past Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in the stage of the last eight at the Hungarian Open in Budapest on Friday afternoon.

Berrettini sent down six aces, winning 83 per cent of his first service points to prevail after one hour and 52 minutes. Next up for Berrettini will be No. 5 seed Laslo Djere from Serbia, who rallied past No. 4 Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 45 minutes.

“I played well in the first set, but lost my rhythm in the second. I was very focused towards the end of the match,” Berrettini said. “I am proud of this victory, as I can prepare for the third ATP semi-final of my career.”

Earlier in the day, Filip Krajinovic knocked out No. 2 seed Borna Coric of Croatia with a 6-4, 7-5 victory. The qualifier from Serbia outpointed his opponent 77-73 after one hour and 58 minutes.

In his first semi-final on the ATP Tour since February 2018 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Krajinovic will take on Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who beat Hungarian wild card Attila Balazs 6-3, 6-4.

“I’m really proud of myself to play the match that I played. It’s never easy to play in front of the home crowd. They were supporting him from the first until the last point,” Herbert was quoted on the ATP Tour website. “He was playing actually some great tennis this week, so I expected a tough match. That’s what it was.”

Friday’s Results

[Q] F. Krajinovic (SRB) d [2] B. Coric (CRO) 64 75
[5] L. Djere (SRB) d [4] N. Basilashvili (GEO) 36 62 63
M. Berrettini (ITA) d P. Cuevas (URU) 63 16 63
P. Herbert (FRA) d [WC] A. Balazs (HUN) 63 64