MUNICH — American Ben Shelton advanced to his second clay-court semifinals by beating Luciano Darderi, while top-seeded Alexander Zverev rallied to beat Tallon Griekspoor at the BMW Open on Friday.
Shelton, who won the Houston title on clay a year ago, hit 29 winners to Darderi’s 12 in a 6-4, 6-3 victory in chilly temperatures in Bavaria.
Shelton, the No. 2 seed, next faces Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo for a spot in the final. The fifth-seeded Cerundolo moved into the last four by defeating David Goffin 6-2, 6-4.
Before the tournament, Shelton attended his first professional soccer game when Bayern Munich drew with rival Borussia Dortmund 2-2 last Saturday.
In reaching his ninth tour-level semifinal, Shelton ended Darderi’s career-best winning streak at seven matches, which included the Marrakech title.
The third-ranked Zverev held off Griekspoor 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3), 6-4 and will next face Fabian Marozsan who defeated Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-6 (4).
“It’s always entertaining, we always go the distance,” Zverev said after beating Griekspoor to improve to 7-2 against hm.
A month ago, Griekspoor prevailed against Zverev at Indian Wells for his first top-five win.
This time, with Zverev roared on by a home crowd, Griekspoor served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but blew it. The Dutchman also had Zverev 0-40 in his second service game in the third set.
“I’m proud to win this match and looking forward to the next two, hopefully,” Zverev said.
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