Four of the remaining seeded players in St. Petersburg advanced on Friday to the semi-finals of the St. Petersburg Open, all advancing in straight sets. The seeds were led by the highest remaining seed and title favorite Milos Raonic. The towering Canadian blasted past fifth seed Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-1, 6-2. Raonic blew eleven aces past the Spaniard and saved the lone break point he faced, despite a poor service outing by his standards, only winning 79% of first serve points and 73% of second serve points. However, he converted all four break points he held on Robredo’s serve.

Raonic current sits in 13th in the ATP race to London, having qualified last year. He desperately needs the 250 points up for grabs in St. Petersburg if he wants to have a chance to qualify again this year. He is still in search of his first title of 2015.

Raonic will take a 1-0 head-to-head advantage into his semi-final against another Spaniard, fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut. Bautista Agut also cruised in his match, easily dispatching Lucas Pouille of France. Bautista Agut saved all four break points on his serve and won an impressive 80% of his second serve points, while winning 65% of points on Pouille’s second serve. It was a much easier victory for the Spaniard, who saved three match points in his round of sixteen match against Teymuraz Gabashvili. Raonic defeated Bautista Agut in their lone previous match, last year on indoor hard courts at the Paris Masters, in straight sets.

Simone Bolelli was unable to back up his stunning upset of top seed Tomas Berdych, falling in two tiebreaks to seventh seed Joao Sousa of Portugal. There were no break points in the entire match. The first set tiebreak was competitive, with Sousa taking it 9-7. The second breaker was less competitive, with the seventh seed cruising to a 7-1 victory. In the end, Sousa only won four more points than Bolelli.

For a spot in the final, Sousa will do battle with the third seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem. The twenty-two year old fought past Denis Istomin 6-2, 7-5, converting three of twelve break points, while saving the lone break point he faced. He struck ten aces past his opponent to reach the semis. Thiem is looking to win his fourth title of the season and takes a 3-0 head-to-head advantage into the match with Sousa, including a recent win in the final of Umag. Thiem has won their last two matches in straight sets. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Pete Borkowski
Tennis has always been my obsession. What better way to channel that obsession than writing about it? After 18 months of blogging with Sportsblog.com as the writer of A Fan Obsesseds blog, all the while completing my Bachelors in history and French, I joined VAVEL so that I can better share my love and knowledge of tennis with the world.