Lightning strikes twice

EASTBOURNE, United Kingdom (AFP) — Taylor Fritz enjoyed two wins in one day as the world No. 5 beat Joao Fonseca and Marcos Giron on Thursday to move closer to a fourth Eastbourne title.

Fritz’s second-round clash with rising Brazilian star Fonseca was suspended at one set all due to bad light on Wednesday.

Defending champion Fritz took the first set 6-3, but the 18-year-old Fonseca, ranked 57th, hit back to win the second 7-6 (7/5).

When play resumed on Thursday morning, Fritz won the deciding set 7-5 to reach the Last Eight.

The 27-year-old, who won the grass-court tournament in Stuttgart earlier in June, returned to court just hours later and was pushed to the brink by fellow American Giron.

Top-seeded Fritz eventually prevailed against the world No. 46, winning 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 to book a semifinal date with Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Friday.

Davidovich Fokina, ranked 28th, beat Czech third seed Jakub Mensik 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

The other semi-final pits French fourth seed Ugo Humbert against American world No. 149 Jenson Brooksby.

Humbert beat Billy Harris 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, while Brooksby, who entered the tournament as a “lucky loser” after a withdrawal, defeated Dan Evans 6-2, 6-3.

In the women’s event at Devonshire Park, Australian teenager Maya Joint followed her shock second-round victory over former US Open champion Emma Raducanu by reaching the semi-finals with a 6-4, 7-5 win against Russian Anna Blinkova.

Joint, 19, will face 2021 French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat fellow Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.

Alexandra Eala, a 20-year-old Filipino qualifier, won 6-1, 6-2 against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska to earn a semifinal against Varvara Gracheva.

World No. 74 Eala is an emerging talent on the WTA Tour, having made her breakthrough with a surprise run to the Miami Masters semi-finals in March.

French qualifier Gracheva was given a walkover into the Last Four when Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova pulled out of their quarterfinal with a thigh injury.

Krejcikova, the world No. 17, is awaiting the outcome of a scan before deciding if she can defend her Wimbledon title next week.

“I’m very sorry to have to withdraw from my quarter-final today in Eastbourne as I’m having some soreness in my right thigh,” she said.

“Overnight, it just didn’t get any better; it actually got worse. I think it’s better with Wimbledon in the next couple of days, just to rest it and to see what’s going on and to resolve that.”