CRISTIAN Garin and Casper Ruud have both continued their strong form on clay with impressive three-set wins over in-form opponents. The up and coming talents joined other stars in the future, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev in the semi-finals of the Hamburg European Open.

Garin ended the run of lucky loser, Alexander Bublik in a come-from-behind victory in an hour and 54 minutes. After dropping the first set, Garin found his feet in a strong performance to win 3-6 6-4 6-4 and advance through to the final four. The Chilean clay courter was much more efficient on serve, winning 67 and 70 per cent off his first and second serve points, recording an overall serve efficiency of 63 per cent.

I am so happy to be in the semi-finals,” Garin said post-match. “Hamburg, for me, is a really special tournament. I am having a good week and I am playing my best tennis.”

The win ended the run of Bublik, who, after losing in the first round of qualifying was gifted a spot and then recorded back-to-back wins over Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Garin now heads into the semis to take on second seed Tsitsipas who took care of Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The 22-year-old Greek faced a break deficit in the first set tiebreaker at 3-5, but then found a way to win to post a 7-6 6-2 victory in an hour and 38 minutes.

“It was a perfect day, sunny, good people, good atmosphere and good clay,” Tsitsipas said post-match. “Dusan is a difficult opponent to play on clay, with a lot of spin and variation in his shots. I think I had to do something extra for the victory today. I will keep working hard.”

Ruud’s superb form on clay – having now achieved four semi-finals from five events – continued today with a three-set win over Ugo Humbert. The French young star stunned number one seed Daniil Medvedev in the opening round, and after dropping the first set levelled the match, but Ruud cruised away to victory. The 21-year-old Norwegian won 7-5 3-6 6-1 in two hours and 38 minutes.

The victory helped Ruud set up a semi-finals clash with fifth seed, Rublev who won 6-2 7-5 over fourth seed Roberto Bautista-Agut. The Russian was thrilled his he was able to control play against the fourth seed Spaniard to win in straight sets and book his spot through to the final four in an hour and 31 minutes.

“Roberto is one of the most consistent players on Tour, it’s really tough to beat him,” Rublev said post-match. “You need to play at an amazing level and be really fit. He never gives you an easy match. I am really pleased as I played well, even in the first set — in spite of the score — there were long games and I’m happy to get through the second set.”

One does not have to look to far back to find a relevant clash between Ruud and Rublev, with the pair meeting 12 months ago in the second round where the Russian won 3-6 7-5 6-3 to move through to the quarter finals. Rublev reached the final before losing to defending champion Nikoloz Basilashvili, something Ruud is aware of heading into the clash.

“It was a tough match in the second round [last year],” Ruud said post-match. “Rublev is a very good player, a very dangerous player. “He made the final here last year, so he is feeling good on this court. “I have to be ready for a very tough match.

“He is higher ranked than me. He is a better player than me. “I am the underdog, so I will just try to do my best and hopefully try to get that revenge from last year.”

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