DELRAY BEACH OPEN – DELRAY BEACH, UNITED STATES:

A stunning come-from-behind performance from world number 63, Yoshihito Nishioka has seen the Japanese number two reach the final at Delray Beach. He was well beaten in the first set by sixth seed, Ugo Humbert but turned it around after that to run away with the contest, 1-6 6-4 6-0 to book a spot in the deciding match. Already he has moved into the top 50, with a boost of 15 spots into number 48 with his semi-final win. The 24-year-old, who turned professional in 2014, won his first title two years ago in Shenzhen but has failed to add to that since. Now he has the opportunity to double his total after his win in an hour and 41 minutes. While he served three double faults without an ace, Nishioka did have an efficiency of 70 per cent with a 74 per cent success rate off his first serve. He also broke four times to two, with three of those coming in the last set as he stormed to an unlikely win over his highly fancied young opponent.

Now Nishioka will take on the winner from the match between Raonic and Opelka in the final.

SEMI FINALS RESULTS:

[2] Milos Raonic (CAN) v. [4] Reilly Opelka (USA) DELAYED
Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) defeated [6] Ugo Humbert (FRA) 1-6 6-4 6-0

OPEN 13 PROVENCE – MARSEILLE, FRANCE:

A couple of young guns who are likely to face off in plenty of future ATP Tour finals go head-to-head in Marseille after winning their respective quarter finals against unseeded opponents. Second seed Greek, Stefanos Tsitsipas knocked off Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 7-5 6-3, while seventh seed Canadian, Felix Auger-Aliassime got up in a 7-5 7-6 thriller against France’s Gilles Simon.

Auger-Aliassime took two hours to get home, but the 19-year-old Canadian looked impressive across the court with two breaks and winning 79 per cent of his first serve points and 52 per cent of his second serve points. Auger-Aliassime was also stronger on the return, winning 38 per cent of his total return points. Simon still showed plenty that he could have caused an upset after his shock win over top seed, Daniil Medvedev, but was not able to perform consistently off the return in the crucial moments.

Tsitsipas had a slightly easier run, winning in straight sets in just 68 minutes. He was clean on serve with six aces and winning 82 and 76 per cent of points off his first and second serve respectively. He saved two of a possible three break points, while converting five of eight for himself. Bublik was unable to impact off the 21-year-old’s serve, winning just 20 per cent of his return points.

While Tsitsipas and Auger-Aliassime will not move regardless of how the final goes down – both ranked sixth and 18th respectively – Bublik has moved up eight spots to number 47 in the world, while Simon is up to 53rd with a five spot jump.

SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[2] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) defeated Alexander Bublik (KAZ) 7-5 6-3
[7] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) defeated Gilles Simon (FRA) 7-5 7-6