METZ, September 25, 2015

The top four seeds of the Moselle Open were scheduled to compete on Friday for four semi-finals spots in Metz, but only three made it to the court.

Number one seed Stan Wawrinka had to withdraw from his match against the tournament’s number five Philipp Kohlschreiber due to injury. The 30-year-old Swiss, who is already qualified for the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals in London, hurt his right ankle during his 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Dustin Brown in Thursday’s second round match.

“Unfortunately, I have to pull out because yesterday I twisted my ankle at 5-4 in the first set,” said Wawrinka. “It was painful in the match, but still Ok with tape on it. But after a lot of treatment last night and some tests this morning, it’s dangerous for me to play because the pain is still there. So I will have to see a doctor to see if I will be Ok in the next few weeks.”

Kohlschreiber will take on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The third favourite overcame Nicolas Mahut in an all-French-affair, winning 6-7, 6-3, 7-5. Tsonga gained the decisive break in the twelfth game of the third set, converting his first match point after two hours and 23 minutes.

Second seed Gilles Simon gained a second victory over Gilles Muller in their second tour meeting, winning 6-4, 6-4. The 30-year-old Frenchman fired 12 aces and didn’t lose his service to prevail in one hour and 17 minutes.

Simon set a semi-finals-clash with sixth seed Martin Klizan, who knocked out the tournament’s fourth favourite Guillermo Garcia-López, winning 4-6, 6-3, 7-6. The world number 35 from Slovakia hit 11 aces and won 76% of his first service points to close the encounter after two hours and 16 minutes.