HAMBACH, October 7, 2016

Danylo Kalenichenko knocked out the top seed of the 11th Dittelbrunn Open, winning 7-6, 6-2 over Michal Konecny on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the $10,000 ITF Pro Circuit event, held at the Tennis Center in Hambach.

The 22-year-old from the Ukraine sent down seven aces, capitalized on both of his two break point chances to seal victory in one hour and 18 minutes. Kalenichenko, who is the tournament’s seventh favourite, will appear in the stage of the final four for the fifth time this season. He will next take on Lukas Ruepke. The German qualifier continues his good run this week, as he edged past David Poljak from the Czech Republik 6-2, 7-5.

Martins Podzus fought past Bulgarian teenager Alexander Lazarov, rallying 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. The 22-year-old from Latvia won 82 per cent of his first service points and broke his opponent three times to prevail in one hour and 50 minutes. Podzus advanced to his only second semi-final of the season after he had finished runner-up to Jonas Luetjen at the ITF Future in Vero Beach in April. Next up for the world number 799 will be second seed Marek Jaloviec. The Czech lefty eased past Bastian Wagner of Germany, winning 6-2, 6-3 in only 56 minutes.

In Saturday’s doubles final the British combination of Keelan Oakley and Neil Pauffley will play the Czech tandem of Marek Jaoloviec and Michal Konecny.