The Houston semifinals are set. Jack Sock will face fellow American Steve Johnson, and Ernesto Escobedo will face Thomaz Bellucci.
Those matchups are the result of an exciting Friday of quarterfinals.
In the first match of the day, 20-year-old Escobedo beat John Isner, the tournament’s second seed, by winning two out of three tiebreaks. Isner handed the first one to Escobedo by double-faulting to lose 6-8.
The big man, after saving a match point, won the second set 8-6 after Escobedo overcooked a forehand.
In the third, Isner fought off three match points to force yet another tiebreak, in which Escobedo blew a backhand return winner past Isner to take a 4-2 lead. The #NextGenATP star went on to win the tiebreak 7-5.
20-yr-old Californian Ernesto Escobedo weathers 35 aces from John Isner, wins 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 to reach the Houston semifinals. Massive effort.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) April 14, 2017
Up next was Bellucci’s three-set win over American Sam Querrey. After splitting the first two sets, Querrey got off to a 2-0 lead in the decider, but Bellucci broke twice to win 6-3 and end the possibility of a four-American semifinal round.
Steve Johnson had a straightforward win against Fernando Verdasco, winning the first set 6-2 and the second 6-4.
In the last match of the day, No. 1 seed Jack Sock won an extremely close one over Feliciano Lopez.
Lopez broke Sock’s serve in the first game of the match.
But Sock later, after failing to convert on four break points, landed a forehand pass on the fifth to tie the set 4-4. Lopez broke shortly after for 6-5, but the lefty gave the break right back by missing a one-handed backhand into the net, sending the set to a tiebreak.
Lopez led the tiebreak 5-1, but Sock came back and won it 8-6 off a Lopez double fault.
Sock struggled mentally in the second set and let Lopez win 6-1.
In the third, Sock broke Lopez with a backhand winner to go up 2-0, eventually taking a 3-1 lead. But Lopez put the set back on serve when Sock missed a slice forehand. He then held to tie the set at 3.
Then in the rubber set’s 10th game, Sock broke for 6-4 on a forehand pass to win the match.
Sock, who was the champion in Auckland and Delray Beach earlier in the year, is competing for his third 250 title of 2017.
The 24-year-old American’s first ATP championship came in Houston in 2015, and he was a finalist there in 2016, losing to Juan Monaco.
Sock’s has won four of the his five previous matches against Johnson, his semifinal opponent, including a straight-sets victory at Roland Garros.
Escobedo, who is playing his only ninth tour-level event, has no previous meetings with Bellucci.
