VILLENA/STARNBERG, October 15, 2021
Germany’s Oscar Otte leads the semi-final line-up of the Alicante Ferrero Challenger hosted by the JC Ferrero Equelite Sport Academy in Villena, Alicante in Spain. The No. 3 seed of the €44,820 hard-court tournament ended the run of Kazakh qualifier Denis Yevseyev on Friday afternoon.
Otte, who advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at this year’s US Open, struck six aces and won 80 per cent of his first-service points to secure a 7-6(8), 6-1 victory in one hour and 19 minutes.
The World No. 138 from Cologne will next take on Hugo Grenier, who fought past Nuno Borges from Portugal 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. The 25-year-old Frenchman prevailed after one hour and 41 minutes.
In the bottom half of the draw, Joao Sousa emerged victorious from the all-Portuguese affair with Frederico Ferreira Silva, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The No. 8 seed from Guimaraes fired nine aces and converted four of his eight break-point opportunities to succeed after two hours and 31 minutes.
Sousa will next play Frenchman Constant Lestienne, who defeated Austrian alternate Lucas Miedler 7-6(5), 6-4. The encounter lasted one hour and 50 minutes.
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Doubles final set
In the doubles final, third seeds Denys Molchanov from the Ukraine and David Vega Hernandez, the last Spaniard left in the tournament, will face second favourites Romain Arneodo of Monaco and Australian Matt Reid.
The championship match will be played not before 2:30 pm local time. Saturday’s action will kick off with the singles semi-finals at 11 am.
