LEXINGTON, August 3, 2019
The semi-finals of the Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships are set.
Lloyd Glasspool from Great Britain started off play on Friday with a convincing and straightforward 6-4, 6-3 display on court one to punch his ticket into the stage of the final four of the ATP Challenger 80 event. Glassspool defeated fellow countryman and No. 14 seed Liam Broady by serving at an impressive 78 per cent clip while not facing a break point in the match. Conversely, Glasspool converted on three of his six break point opportunities and had four aces in the match.
No. 2 seed Alex Bolt from Australia continued his flare for the dramatics on the week, with a tight three-set win – his third of the week. After a pair of three-set wins to begin the tournament, the 26-year-old was able to consolidate an early break in the first set before dropping the second set in a tiebreak (8-6). In the third set, there were no breaks the entire way until US-American Alexander Ritschard was serving to stay in the match a 4-5 and lost a deuce game on his serve to hand Bolt the 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-4 win and send him into the semi-finals.
Glasspool and Bolt will face off in the first semi-final at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon at the Boone Tennis Center.
JC Aragone from the United States is into the first ATP Challenger semi-final thanks to a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) win on Friday afternoon in the heat of the Lexington day. As temperatures heated in the area to close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, Aragone rose his levels in the tiebreaks, winning both comfortably. There were three breaks to each player in the match during the two-set affair with both Aragone and Akira Santillan from Australia going 3-for-5 on break opportunities. The one hour and 44 minutes match featured two players serving over 60 per cent with service power on display as 19 aces were served.
Aragone will next face No. 3 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy, who won a three-setter over fifth favourite Duckhee Lee from South Korea 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. The teenager from South Tyrol maintained control of the match from the second set on through, at one point winning seven games in a row over Lee. Sinner and Aragone will be second on court Saturday afternoon in the semifinals.
RESULTS – AUGUST 02, 2019
Singles – Quarterfinals
[2] A. Bolt (AUS) d A. Ritschard (USA) 64 67(2) 64
[3] J. Sinner (ITA) d [5] D. Lee (KOR) 46 63 61
[13] J. Aragone (USA) d [7] A. Santillan (AUS) 76(4) 76(3)
L. Glasspool (GBR) d [14] L. Broady (GBR) 64 63
Doubles – Semifinals
[1] R. Maytin (VEN) / J. Withrow (USA) d [4] J. Aragone (USA) / L. Broady (GBR) 64 64
[ITF] D. Hidalgo (ECU) / M. Redlicki (USA) d [3] A. Goransson (SWE) / S. Verbeek (NED) 63 64
Quarterfinals
[4] J. Aragone (USA) / L. Broady (GBR) d C. Altamirano (USA) / A. Ritschard (USA) 63 64
