THREE of the final four players remaining in the Houston Open fantasy tennis tournament are seeds with the draw somewhat returning to an expected result following some early upsets in the opening few days. Fifth seed Jan-Lennard Struff, sixth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili and eighth seed Casper Ruud are all through to the semi-finals, joining the unseeded but Grand Slam winner, Andy Murray in the last four.

Struff had his work cut out for him early against Italian, Lorenzo Sonego. The German fifth seed fought back from a first set deficit to post a 4-6 7-5 6-4 win in his quarter final. In a match that lasted two hours and 26 minutes, it was Struff who advanced through to the last four and eyes off a clash with Murray.

The Brit had his own stresses throughout his three-set win over American, Sam Querrey. Taking on the last remaining United States representative, Murray had the crowd against him but he silenced them with an inspired 7-2 tiebreak win in the first set. Querrey was not going to bow out easily though, taking it up to the impressive Murray in the second set to win it in a tiebreaker, 8-6 and keep his Houston title dream alive. Murray was the quick to recover though, posting a victory in the third set by winning 7-6 6-7 6-2 and making his way through to the semi-finals.

In the top half of the draw, an all-seeded semi-final awaits after both Basilashvili and Ruud triumphed in their respective clashes. Basilashvili ended the run of talented up-and-coming Swede, Mikael Ymer despite a worrying first set. Ymer took out the opening set 6-1 to stun the sixth seed Georgian before Basilashvili got back on top and broke early in the second set to level the match. He did the same midway through the third and it handed him the win in just under two hours, 1-6 6-4 6-4.

Ruud had an equally challenging contest up against unseeded Uruguayan, Pablo Cuevas. The Norwegian won the first set 7-5 with a crucial break in the penultimate game, winning the last three games of the set to go ahead. It was not going to be smooth sailing thereafter though, with the South American hitting back and returning the favour. Ruud settled to steady in the third and break three times to ensure he got the chocolates, getting up 7-5 5-7 6-2 in a memorable win.

QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[5] Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) defeated Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) 4-6 7-5 6-4
[6] Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) defeated Mikael Ymer (SWE) 1-6 6-4 6-4
[8] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated Pablo Cuevas (URU) 7-5 5-7 6-2
Andy Murray (GBR) defeated Sam Querrey (USA) 7-6 6-7 6-2