ATP Los Cabos: Feliciano Lopez sets up clash against Ivo Karlovic for the title

The two remaining seeds booked their spots in the first ever final at Los Cabos Open. In the first match, Ivo Karlovic had to take on Dusan Lajovic. Due an elbow and wrist injury, Dusan Lajovic wasn’t able to finish the match and retired before the end of the third game of the second set. Feliciano Lopez had a tough encounter against fellow countrymen, Pablo Carreno Busta, as the younger Spaniard took a set away from the first seed. Take a look at what happened today at the semifinals at the Los Cabos Open.

In the quarterfinals, Feliciano Lopez defeated Julien Benneteau in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. His opponent in this semifinal had to play a match that lasted more than three hours against Santiago Giraldo in which he had to come back from a set down to win, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Ivo Karlovic also had a tough match against Marcel Granollers but secured his spot in the last four after defeating the Spaniard, 2-6, 7-6, 6-1. Dusan Lajovic, his adversary, had a straight-set win over Nicolas Almagro, 7-5, 7-6.

Ivo Karlovic becomes the first finalist of Los Cabos Open after retirement from Lajovic

Lajovic started the match saving two break points to win his first service game and the opening game of the match. Karlovic used his powerful serve to secure an easy hold to love and level things up at 1-1. The Serbian was playing great points, especially when Karlovic came to the net but was unable to figure out a way to break him, but that was not a problem for the Croatian who found the early break in the following game to go up 2-1 before later consolidating with his serve. Despite being a break down, the Serbian kept playing amazing points and held to shorten the gap to 3-2. It was at this point that Lajovic started to feel a discomfort in his right elbow and even requested to see the trainer. After a solid hold from the Croatian, Lajovic was not able to stop him from breaking again and lead 5-2. The Serbian attempted to recover the break, but Karlovic closed the first set with an ace after 35 minutes.

Both players exchanged holds to tie at 1-1 to open the second set. After twelve minutes into the second set and facing a break, Dusan Lajovic announced his retirement from the match and granting Ivo Karlovic a spot in the first final of the Los Cabos Open. The match lasted just 47 minutes with a scoreline of 6-2, 1-1.

Dusan Lajovic receives treatment during his semifinal match at Los Cabos Open. (Photo: Mextenis)

“I would much rather play the full match and lose than finish like this, but I couldn’t go against the injury and that’s a real shame,” Lajovic said after the match.

“I really enjoyed here and I hope that I’m back next year,” the Serbian concluded.

At the press conference, he also announced he won’t be playing Cincinnati and his next tournament will be the US Open.

“I’m very happy to be in the final, I didn’t expect him that he retired from an injury, but this sort of things happened in tennis and I hope Lajovic gets better,” Ivo Karlovic said after the match. “From the start, I was very aggressive in my game, I worked to be in the final and I come from winning in Newport, so I’m hoping the same result here in Los Cabos.”

Ivo Karlovic in action during his semifinal match at Los Cabos Open. (Photo: Mextenis)

Feliciano Lopez comes back from a set down to defeat Pablo Carreno Busta

In the second semifinal, Carreno Busta surprised Feliciano Lopez with his aggressive tennis and managed to get a break point but Lopez saved it to hold in the opening game of the set. However, the good form from the younger Spaniard showed as he held his opening service game to love to tied things at 1-1. In the third game of the match, Carreno Busta quickly put himself ahead as he got three break points, Lopez saved two but was unable to save the third one and with that, Carreno Busta got the early lead in the opening set. After the break was consolidated, Lopez held to reduce the deficit but Carreno Busta wasn’t giving anything away after getting another hold to love to go up 4-2. The second break of the match came in the seventh game and gave Carreno Busta the chance to close the set with his serve. Needing just one set point, Carreno Busta took the first set 6-2 after hitting two consecutive aces.

Lopez needed to improve his serve if he wanted to dream of a comeback and he did just that, opening the second set with a very solid hold and breaking immediately to go up 2-0. Lopez was doing everything right, but the younger Spaniard wasn’t going to grant another break anytime soon. The serve of the first seed improved notoriously as Lopez was now winning 94 percent of the points on his first serve. That break at the start of the game was enough for Lopez to equalize the match and force a deciding set, taking the second set in just 35 minutes, 6-3.

Pablo Carreno Busta in action during his semifinal match at Los Cabos Open. (Photo: Mextenis)

Once again, it was a bad start for Carreno Busta who hit several unforced errors in the opening game of the third set and eventually Lopez was gifted the break, which he would then consolidate to hold a 2-0 lead. Unlike the first set, the younger Spaniard was having a hard time holding his serve as Lopez started coming more often to the net, trying to finish the points up there. The tension was growing as Carreno Busta had an argument with the chair umpire after a serve from Lopez was called an ace, something that Carreno Busta didn’t agree with.

Despite feeling a bit upset, Carreno Busta kept his head in the game and held his serve as he tried to find a way to break his opponent. Lopez was feeling more confident as his serve was helping him in the tough moments and soon, he was leading 5-3. Carreno Busta had the pressure of holding to stay in the match and have one more chance to break and try to come back into the match, but Lopez had a different plan and ended up breaking Carreno Busta and winning the match with a volley winner. In one hour and 47 minutes, Feliciano Lopez defeats Pablo Carreno Busta 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

“I think it was a good tournament, I came from several weeks without playing matches around a month, but this tournament has helped me to get the pace and now I have a very good feeling for the rest of the season. I played and fought yesterday a very complicated match and tonight against Feliciano I displayed a good level in the first set, maybe I do have to improve some things to not drop the level like I did in the last two sets,” Pablo Carreno Busta said in his press conference after the match.

“It was a complicated match with a bad start from me. In the second set, I played a bit better and started very strong in the third one. I improved during the match. I fought back and tomorrow I have to be very focus because every match is different,” Lopez said at his press conference.