JAUME Munar is eyeing off a maiden title in Marbella after accounting for teenage young gun Carlos Alcaraz and booking his spot in the Andalucia Open final. The world number 95 had a tough time against the teenager, but managed to hold off his opponent 7-6 6-4, winning the first set tiebreaker 7-4, and breaking four times to three overall to be the difference.

The match lasted one hour and 55 minutes, as the 23-year-old won 71 and 50 per cent of his first and second serve points, and broke four times from 11 chances. Alcaraz was strong defensively to save the other seven break point opportunities, but could only muster up five chances off Munar’s serve, and broke jus three times, with no aces and four double faults for the match.

Now Munar will take on top seed Pablo Carreno Busta who has far more experience himself, booking his spot in the final with a 6-1 3-6 7-6 victory over fourth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Carreno Busta looked to be cruising early with an easy opening set, but Ramos-Vinolas was not going to go away easily, forcing out a third set, and then a tiebreaker, of which went 7-5 until the top seed was declared the winner.

The 29-year-old has won four career ATP Tour titles, and has brought up his 200th career ATP Tour win with the semi-final victory. At 15th in the world, the Spaniard will be hoping to edge closer to his career-high 10th he achieved in September, 2017.

Meanwhile in Cagliari, third seed Lorenzo Sonego will take on unseeded Serbian Laslo Djere following a couple of upsets in the Sardegna Open semi-finals. Sonego took out tournament favourite Taylor Fritz in three sets, winning 6-4 5-7 6-1, while Djere defeated fourth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2 6-0 in much easier fashion.

The Italian needed two hours and 39 minutes to defeat the American, winning 70 per cent of his first serve points off a 60 per cent efficiency, and whilst his second serve percentage – 30 per cent – was low he scrambled well to break eight times to five, creating 18 break point opportunities in the match. He has just won the won career title, but will achieve a career-high ranking having already surpassed his 32nd spot last year after the third seed entered the Sardegna Open at 34th in the world.

Djere on the other hand has won two career ATP Tour titles, and whilst he is ranked 57th in the world, has a career-high of 27th from June, 2019. The 25-year-old is still a developing talent, and will almost achieve a 50 per cent win-loss record on the ATP Tour if he can triumph in the final. His semi-final effort of just 52 minutes over the disappointing Georgian was nothing short of a rout, winning all bar nine points on serve, facing no break point opportunities and breaking in five of Basilashvili’s seven games.

The Monte Carlo Masters qualifying also got underway overnight, with top seed Dominik Koepfer, and the in-form Alexei Popyrin both making it through. Fellow German Yannick Hanfmann upset third seed Jiri Vesely, whilst the biggest upset was Australian wildcard Bernard Tomic, easily accounting for fourth seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert in straight sets, 6-3 6-0 in his best win in a long time.

ANDALUCIA OPEN SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) defeated [4] Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-1 3-6 7-6
Jaume Munar (ESP) defeated [WC] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) 7-6 6-4

SARDEGNA OPEN SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[3] Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) defeated [2] Taylor Fritz (USA) 6-4 5-7 6-1
Laslo Djere (SRB) defeated [4] Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 6-2 6-0