GUIA DE ISORA/STARNBERG, March 1, 2024
Spanish teenager Martin Landaluce has reached his first semi-final on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 18-year-old, who captured the 2022 US Open Boys’ singles title, defeated Lukas Neumayer of Austria 6-3, 6-3 in the stage of the last eight at the Tenerife Challenger 3.
Landaluce converted four of his six break-point chances and won 59 per cent of the total points played to seal victory in one hour and 20 minutes.
Into his first career Challenger semifinal 👏
18-year-old Martin Landaluce prevails over Neumayer 6-3, 6-3 to reach the last four in Tenerife!#ATPChallenger | @meftennisevents | @RFETenis pic.twitter.com/iyXieHpKEu
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 1, 2024
The match took place in front of Miguel Diaz Roman, President of the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation RFET. “Surely he helped me. He was the talisman of the match,” said the former Junior World No. 1 and wild card entry of the ATP Challenger Tour 75 hard-court event on the Canary Islands.
“Just when I saw him, I improved my game. It started tough because I didn’t know much about Lukas Neumayer, and he played very well in the beginning. I think I did a great job to stay in the match and raised my level, ending very happy with my first semi-final at this level.”
The 399th-ranked Landaluce will next face former World No. 39 Mikhail Kukushkin from Kazakhstan, who won his quarterfinal match against another Spanish teenager in person of Daniel Merida 6-3, 6-4.
“I feel ready, and I’m proving it. Then the results can come at any time. The only thing is to keep going, stay strong and eventually get the reward,” Landaluce said.
Bu to face red-hot Gigante
In the top half of the draw, Yunchaokete Bu will attempt to end Matteo Gigante‘s thirteen-match winning streak in Tenerife. The 22-year-old Chinese is competing in his second tournament of the year, following the first round of the Australian Open qualifying, and comes off a 7-6(7), 7-6(1) victory against Martin Damm from the United States.
Gigante, champion of last year’s Tenerife Challenger 3 and the Tenerife Challenger 2 just five days ago, struggled but managed to overcome Alejandro Moro Canas of Spain 7-6(3), 7-5 in one hour and 48 minutes.
📆 Order of Play | Saturday 2 March
Día de semifinales en la isla 🏝️
🎟️ https://t.co/B7XXsdj4Om #tennis #TenerifeChallenger #ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/sEFFs8eyia
— MEF tennis events (@meftennisevents) March 1, 2024
