The third day at Los Cabos Open was full of surprises starting with a three hour match between Santiago Giraldo and Pablo Carreno Busta. Dusan Lajovic continues his quest for his first ATP singles title. Feliciano Lopez wins in straight sets to book an all-Spaniards semifinal and Ivo Karlovic comes back from a set down. Here's a look at what happened on day three.
Pablo Carreno Busta comes back from a set down to reach his first hardcourt semifinal
It wasn’t the greatest start for the Spaniard who lost his serve in the opening game of the match. Santiago Giraldo came from pulling a big upset over Sam Querrey the day before and his confidence was helping him to get an early lead in the first set. However, the Spaniard, who reached two finals this year on clay, was starting to feel more comfortable on the hard court as he began to complicate the game of the Colombian. It wasn’t until the tenth game when Giraldo was serving for the set, that all the effort from the Spaniard paid off as he broke back to level things up at 5-5. Both players then exchanged holds to force a tiebreak. Carreno Busta seemed to have lost focus in the tiebreak as the Colombian was dictating every point. After missing one chance to close the set, Santiago Giraldo became the proud owner of the first set 7-6 after 62 minutes.
The momentum of the first set followed Giraldo to the second as he went on to hold and then break his opponent to get an early lead of 2-0 which he later extended to 3-0 after consolidating the break. However, just like in the first set, Carreno Busta didn’t give up that easily and in the fifth game he got the break which helped him later to equalize things at 3-3 after holding his serve. Another tiebreak was going to be needed to decide this set as neither player conceded his serve. This time, things went a little differently as it was Carreno who took all his chances and grabbed the second set on his second opportunity.
After two sets that lasted one hour each, the crowd was rooting for every point. A very comfortable hold to love gave Carreno Busta the confidence to go out there and try to get the early break. Giraldo was forced to come back from being 0-40 down but the Spaniard wasn’t done as he took his sixth break point to be up 2-0. However, Giraldo only needed one point to recover the break in the following game. Once again, it was Carreno Busta who struck as he broke the Colombian again, this time consolidating the break with his serve to lead 4-1. After an exchange of holds, Giraldo got a break but while he was serving to level thing at 4-4 was broken by the Spaniard who now had the pressure to serve for the match and he showed no sign of nerves as he won the match with a hold to love. After three hours and four minutes, Pablo Carreno Busta defeated Santiago Giraldo 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
Dusan Lajovic books his third semifinal of the year after defeating Nicolas Almagro
Prior this meeting, Lajovic had played Almagro before last year at Kitzbül where the Spaniard won in straight sets. Today, a different Lajovic took the court as he started to play more aggressively and in the fourth game he finally got to, so got the break to be up 3-1. Despite the best efforts from the Spaniard, Lajovic wasn’t giving anything away as everything was working, especially his serve. Almagro started to show signs of frustration but kept focused and in the ninth game the Serbian finally gave him a chance to recover the break. The Spaniard didn’t waste the opportunity and then held his serve to level things up at 5-5. Losing the advantage didn’t seem to affect the Serbian as he held without complications and then seized every opportunity to avoid the tiebreak as he broke Almagro again to take the set 7-5.
In the second set, Almagro learned from his mistakes as he decreased his unforced errors and instead began playing more aggressively, but Lajovic had the confidence of winning that first set and didn’t hurry up between points which helped him make the right decisions and keep his serve. In the sixth game, Lajovic had the chance to be the first one to break in the set, but the Spaniard fought back and held to equalize at 3-3. Being a set down and adding the frustration of not being able to break, the Serbian influenced Almagro who also had some discomfort in his shoulder, but still, both players held their serves and this time no one could prevent a tiebreak from deciding the winner of this set. Almagro started the tiebreak being up 3-0, but some great points from the Serbian helped him to shorten the gap to 3-2. However, the Spaniard wasn’t going to yield and quickly was up 5-3. Some unforced errors later from Almagro helped Lajovic to tied things at 5-5 and the Serbian didn’t waste time to complete the comeback and take the tiebreak 7-5. In just 94 minutes, Dusan Lajovic pulled an upset over the seventh seed, Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 7-6. In the next round, Lajovic will face Ivo Karlovic. This will be the fifth meeting between them, Karlovic winning all the previous encounters. The last one happened this year at Istanbul where the Croatian won in two tiebreaks.
Feliciano Lopez too dominant for Julien Benneteau, into the last four after straight sets win
Despite the Frenchman having a winning record against the Spaniard, it was Lopez who started the match breaking Benneteau to lead 2-0. The Frenchman had two break points in the following game but was unable to convert, however, he got on the scoreboard after holding his serve to love to be 1-3. Feliciano Lopez was making things more difficult for Benneteau as he was serving almost perfectly, giving no chance to his opponent to return most of his serves. Still, the Frenchman stayed strong trying to find the perfect chance to break, but losing that game at the start of the game was enough for him to lose the set. While serving for the set, Lopez had to get rid of two break points to close the first set, 6-3.
The start of the second set was a display of solid tennis and both players refused to give anything away. Lopez was the first one to put some pressure as he had two break points in the fifth game but Benneteau hit three aces in a row to go up 3-2. In this second set, the Spaniard was serving a lot better than in the first one, winning the ninety-two percent of his first set. Three unforced errors from Benneteau gave Lopez another chance to break and go up in the match. This time, the Spaniard didn’t waste this opportunity and broke to lead 4-3, in the following game he consolidated with a hold to love. Beneteau didn’t concede his serve, but any chance to break Lopez to come back was erased when the Spaniard hit three great serves to close the match with a hold to love. In 75 minutes, Feliciano Lopez defeated Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4. In the semifinals, he will face Pablo Carreno Busta who leads their head-to-head 1-0. Their only meeting to date was in 2014 at Valencia where Carreno won in straight sets.
Marcel Granollers takes the first set against Ivo Karlovic but can't stop the comeback from the Croatian
Karlovic’s serve was hard to break, but in the fourth game, Marcel Granollers found a way to take the early lead and be up 3-1. The Spaniard was helped by his serve as that was the way he avoided getting broken. Despite his powerful serve, Karlovic was the one struggling between the points and couldn’t find a way to break the Spaniard. After a great hold to love to lead 5-2, Granollers got the second break and with that the first set, 6-2. The second set was the same story as Karlovic saved himself with his serve but Granollers stayed focus and didn’t face a single break point in the whole set, unlike Karlovic’s who was forced to save one in the eighth game. A tiebreak would be needed to decide the outcome of the second set and it was Karlovic this time who took the early lead at 4-0 which caused Granollers to get frustrated and started speaking to himself. The Spaniard was only able to win three points in the tiebreak as Karlovic won to force the match to be decided in a third set.
After not being able to close the match in that tiebreak, Granollers lost control of the set as Karlovic’s confidence only grew higher. The Croatian broke in the second game to lead 2-0 and despite the best attempts of the Spaniard to come back and break, it was impossible for him to figure out his opponent’s serve. At the sixth game of the set, Karlovic broke for the second time and with that he sentenced the match as he was up 5-1. Hitting his trademark shot, Karlovic closed the match 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 in almost two hours.
Order of Play
Pegaso Stadium
Not before 7:00 pm
[3] Ivo Karlovic (CRO) - Dusan Lajovic (SRB)
Not before 9:00 pm
[1] Feliciano Lopez (ESP) - [WC] Pablo Carreno Busta
Grandstand
Not before 7:00 pm
Jonathan Erlich (ISR) / Ken Skupski (GBR) - David Marrero (ESP) / Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
Purav Raja (IND) / Divij Sharan (IND) - Jonathan Marray (GBR) / Adil Shamasdin (CAN)
