STARNBERG, November 20, 2020
Three of the Top 5 seeds advanced to the semi-finals of the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol held at the Tennis Club Ortisei. Ilya Ivashka battled past #NextGenATP Czech Tomas Machac 7-6(4), 7-6(5) on Friday afternoon. The No. 2 seed from Belarus won three points more than his 20-year-old opponent to prevail after one hour and 40 minutes.
Ivashka will next take on Aslan Karatsev. The No. 3 seed of Russia, a two-time ATP Challenger champion this season in the Czech Republic at Prague and Ostrava, knocked off No. 6 seed Federico Gaio of Italy 7-6(3), 6-3. Karatsev converted two of his 11 break point chances to advance after one hour and 41 minutes.
No. 5 seed Antoine Hoang rallied from a set down to overcome German Julian Lenz 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3. The World No. 126 from France sent down nine aces and won 87 per cent of his first-service points to secure victory in two hours and 16 minutes. Up next for Hoang will be his compatriot Alexandre Muller, the only unseeded player left in the singles draw. The 23-year-old from Aix-en-Provence saved three match points to fight past Illya Marchenko from the Ukraine 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 7-5. The encounter lasted two hours and 49 minutes.
It’s all about timing 😅 3 matchs points saved ✅ into semis in Ortisei 🇮🇹 @ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/cpkwNgqN8g
— Alexandre Müller (@Alex2Mumu) November 20, 2020
