Tennis: Zverev faces Chung in semis

BERLIN: Top seed Alexander Zverev had to contend with a crying baby on Friday before setting up a semifinal clash against South Korea’s Hyeon Chung at the Munich ATP tournament.

The 21-year-old Zverev, ranked third in the world, needed just over an hour to beat German compatriot Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-2 in his quarterfinal match.However, a crying infant briefly distracted Zverev between serves on his second match point before the defending champion wrapped up his 19th match win this year with a second-serve ace. With good returns and well-placed ground strokes, Zverev had few other problems and despite recent close matches between the pair, Struff never found his rhythm. “I’m glad I didn’t have to go to three sets again,” said Zverev who had to go the distance to beat Struff in Monaco this year and Munich in 2017.

Zverev will be chasing his first win over Chung after defeats last year in Barcelona and in the third round of the Australian Open in January. Chung, who reached the Australian Open semifinals, had few problems as he beat 2014 Munich winner Martin Klizan 6-3, 6-4 in his last eight tie on Friday. “I’m really happy to make the semifinals two years in a row,” said Chung. Chung, 21, beat Klizan in the Munich quarterfinals for the second successive year.

Serving at 4-5 in the second set with the scores at 30-all, Klizan hit a double fault and then struck a forehand long to hand the Korean victory. In Friday’s other quarterfinals sixth-seed Philipp Kohlschreiber faces Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut while Hungary’s Marton Fucsovic faces Germany’s Maximilian Marterer.

Tsitsipas beats Anderson in Estoril: Greek rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his excellent form on clay by beating Estoril Open top seed Kevin Anderson 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals.

The 19-year-old held the big-hitting South African to just four aces in a second-round match which lasted for more than two hours in windy conditions. World number 44 Tsitsipas beat three top-20 players, including Dominic Thiem, en route to the Barcelona Open final last week, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Anderson, ranked eighth, sealed his fate as his first double-fault of the contest brought up two match points, with Tsitsipas quickly wrapping up victory at the first attempt. “It was really tough, with tricky conditions,” world number eight Anderson said. “I’ve not played a match in a while.

“It’s a little disappointing, I would have preferred better conditions for my first match back, a more comfortable environment. “But he was just too good today.” Tsitsipas, the first Greek man to break into the world’s top 50, improved to 13-10 for the season. He will face a last-eight match against Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, who knocked out British number three Cameron Norrie 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1). The 103rd-ranked Norrie went down in three hours, eight minutes to his Spanish opponent who won his first ATP title this season in Quito. Norrie let a 5-2 lead in the final set slip away and wasted three match points while serving for victory leading 5-3, missing out on the first ATP quarterfinal of his career.