Thanasi Kokkinakis has advanced to his first ATP semifinal after blasting past fellow young gun Taylor Fritz on Thursday night in Los Cabos.
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Los Cabos: Kokkinakis beats Fritz to reach semis
Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico, 4 August 2017 | AAP
Thanasi Kokkinakis is into the final four of the Los Cabos Open after a straight-sets quarterfinal victory over Taylor Fritz in Mexico.
The Australian won 7-6(5) 6-2 on Thursday and will play world No.14 Tomas Berdych for a place in the final.
World No.454 Kokkinakis overcame being broken in the fifth game of the second set to win the final three games against American Fritz, who is ranked 327 places above him.
It’s the first time Kokkinakis, a tournament wildcard, has reached a semifinal on the elite ATP Tour.
The 21-year-old started well by breaking Fritz in the third game of the opening set but endured an immediate break back.
He fought back from 3-1 down in the first-set tiebreak to win 7-5 before closing out the match in 92 minutes.
Kokkinakis is two months into a full-time world tour comeback after almost two years of crippling injuries.
He progressed to Thursday’s quarterfinal by beating American Frances Tiafoe in the first round and Canada’s Peter Polansky in the second.
The top-seeded Berdych reached the semifinals by beating Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 4-6 6-3 6-4 – Berdych recovered from 4-1 down in the third set.
American second-seed Sam Querrey dispatched Vincent Millot of France 6-1 6-3 and will play either fourth-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez or Bosnian Damir Dzumhur in the final four.
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