IT was absolute carnage in Winston-Salem as the seeds dropped like flies overnight to present some opportunities for lower ranked players at the ATP Tour 250 event. In the final men’s tournament prior to the US Open, the lower ranked players inside the Top 100 prevailed, with the 63rd ranked Ilya Ivashka, 76th ranked Emil Ruusuvuori and the 90th ranked Mikael Ymer all triumphing in their respective quarter finals.

The 22-year-old Ruusuvuori defeated French veteran Richard Gasquet in straight sets, fighting past a tight first set tiebreaker 7-5 to win 7-6 6-1 in straight sets over the 14th seed. Ruusuvuori produced the only six aces of the game and won 78 per cent of his first serve points against France’s most capped competitor, also breaking him four times to one during the match, in order to post the victory in one hour and 33 minutes.

“I thought that first set was a very high level. He’s a great player. He’s been playing on tour almost more years than I have in my life,” Ruusuvuori said post-match. “The break back [in the first set] was key. Obviously, we saw that everything wasn’t quite there physically with him so that’s a pity.”

Ruusuvuori now heads into the semi-finals to take on Ivashka who rolled top seed Pablo Carreno Busta in a stunning upset. The Belarusian knocked off the world number 12 7-6 6-3 in a result no one saw coming following Carreno Busta’s dominant Round of 16 win only dropping one game. Ivashka played an aggressive style and put down 11 aces to three, hardly beaten on serve with an elite 80 per cent efficiency for an 86 and 73 per cent success rate off his serve. He did not face a break point, and instead broke the Spaniard twice in the second set to win in an hour and 27 minutes.

“Of course it’s a great feeling. I had a great match today. These conditions suit me,” Ivashka said post-match. “I think he had more pressure because he’s the top seed so for me it was a good challenge to see what my level is and to compete with these guys, so for me it was a great match.

“I think I was playing very aggressive and I was not giving a lot of time to him, trying to push him from the return from the baseline. I was trying to go to the net to play as aggressively as I could and it worked.”

Meanwhile Ymer overcame 13th seed Frances Tiafoe to achieve his best performance on Tour this year following a shaky start to 2021. The Swede was playing in his third straight quarter final on the ATP Tour after reaching the last eight in both Gstaad and Kitzbuhel back in July, but was back on hard court to try his luck after a some inconsistent efforts earlier in the year. Capable of anything, Ymer will be keen to reach his first ever ATP Tour final if he can, winning in three tight sets over Tiafoe.

The Swede had to come back from losing the first set in a tiebreaker 7-2, to defeating the United States representative, 6-7 6-2 6-3 in two hours and 16 minutes. Ymer only served one less ace than Tiafoe (8-9) but had five less double faults (3-8) and served at a much more efficient percentage of 65 to 46 per cent. He broke seven times from 14 chances, whilst Tiafoe broke Ymer three times from 12 opportunities.

Now Ymer will take on the sole remaining seed in the draw, Carlos Alcaraz, a teenage Spaniard who the Swede knocked off in the second round of the Australian Open on hard court. Alcaraz won against United States’ Marcos Giron, ruling out the chance of a home nation competitor getting up. In a match that lasted one hour and 38 minutes, Alcarez saluted 7-6 6-2 to secured his spot in the final four at Winston-Salem.

WINSTON-SALEM OPEN QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

Ilya Ivashka (BLR) defeated [1] Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) 7-6 6-3
Mikael Ymer (SWE) defeated [13] Frances Tiafoe (USA) 6-7 6-2 6-3
Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) defeated [14] Richard Gasquet (FRA) 7-6 6-1
[15] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) defeated Marcos Giron (USA) 7-6 6-2

Picture credit: Grant Halverson/Getty Images