BOTH players who have tasted success in 2020 won their respective semi-finals in the 2020 ATP Estoril Open fantasy tennis tournament. Seventh seed Filip Krajinovic and unseeded Nikoloz Basilashvili had similar journeys to the final with both having to come from behind after first set losses to win in three sets in matches that lasted more than two hours.

Krajinovic defeated sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov, 6-7 6-1 6-3. The Bulgarian seed looked strong when it counted late in the first set, winning the tiebreaker 7-3 to take an early lead in the match. After that however, it was all Krajinovic who ran out the next two sets with five breaks to one and secured the 6-7 6-1 6-3 victory to move through to his third final of the year.

Basilashvili had an even tougher encounter against fifth seed Fabio Fognini, having to survive two tiebreakers and a handful of match points before making his way into the Estoril Open final. Basilashvili was a set down and 2-5 down in the second set tiebreaker before winning the last five points of the set to level the match with a successful second set tiebreaker. Both players looked impressive in the final set as they dragged the match out past the two and a half hours and went into yet another tiebreaker. It was Basilashvili again who triumphed, this time a little more comfortably, 7-2 to take out the match 4-6 7-6 7-6.

Now the pair face off to try and win their second title of 2020, with Krajinovic winning the Marrakech Open and Basilashvili taking out the Houston Open in the same week. The week after they both won titles, they faced off in the very next match at the Monte Carlo Masters, with Basilashvili winning that encounter 6-2 7-5, the first time they have faced off against one another.

SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) defeated [5] Fabio Fognini (ITA) 4-6 7-6 7-6
[7] Filip Krajinovic (SRB) defeated [6] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 6-7 6-1 6-3