Moldova’s Radu Albot reached his first ATP Tour semifinal since Los Cabos in August 2019 after claiming a 6-3 6-4 win over Adrian Mannarino in 1 hour and 35 minutes at the Singapore Open.
Albot earned the first break in the eighth game to win the opening set 6-3. The Moldovan player went up a 4-0 lead. Mannarino saved four break points in the seventh game before pulling one break back on his third chance to claw his way back to 4-5, but Albot served out the win on his first match point.
Albot set up a semifinal against Alexander Bublik, who beat fifth seed Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3 6-2 with 15 aces.
Albot saved three match points against Yannick Hanfmann in the second round in Singapore earlier this week. The Moldovan player beat Roberto Bautista Agut en route to the Australian Open third round.
Former world number 3 and 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic beat Soonwoo Kwon 6-2 2-6 7-5. Cilic broke twice in a row in the third and fifth games to win the first set 6-2. The second set went on serve in the first five games before Soonwoo Kwon broke twice in a row to win the second set 6-2 sending the match to the third set. Cilic broke in the seventh game at deuce to take a 4-3 lead. Soonwoo Kwon broke straight back in the eighth game. Cilic saved a match point at 4-5 30-40 before converting his third break point in the 11th game. The Croatian player served out the win on his match point. Cilic will take on Alexei Popyrin, who reached his ATP Tour semifinal with a 6-4 7-6 (9-7) win over Matthew Ebden. Popyrin earned his only break in the 10th game of the first set and saved two set points at 4-6 in the tie-break of the second set and sealed the win on his second match point.
