ATP roundup: Hurkacz and Ruud through in Estoril, Shelton into Houston semis
Ruud converted three of five break-point opportunities on his way to defeating Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 6-2. Fucsovics was fighting through an injury throughout the match.
Hurkacz had to pull out a tiebreaker win before besting Spanish qualifier Pablo Llamas Ruiz 7-6(4), 6-4. Hurkacz went 8-for-8 saving break points, including five in the first set, when the players held serve all the way to 6-6.
In the semi-finals, Ruud will face Pedro Martinez of Spain - a 6-4, 6-4 winner over lucky loser Richard Gasquet of France - while Hurkacz will meet Chilean Cristian Garin, who ended the home-soil run of Portugal's Nuno Borges with a 6-2, 7-6(3) result.
Grand Prix Hassan II
Playing on a protected ranking, Matteo Berrettini defeated fellow Italian and fourth seed Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 7-6(5) to advance to the semi-finals in Marrakech, Morocco.
The 2021 Wimbledon finalist is playing just his second event of the season, but he managed to win an overwhelming 83.6 percent of his first-serve points (46 of 55) and hit five aces to beat Sonego.
That result left No. 7 seed Mariano Navone of Argentina as the only seeded player left standing. Navone beat Australian Aleksandar Vukic of Australia 6-2, 6-4. Berrettini will face Navone in one semi-final, while Russia's Pavel Kotov will meet Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena in the other.
Kotov cruised past Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-2, while Carballes Baena beat American qualifier Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship
Ben Shelton advanced to his first ATP clay semi-final on Friday, edging countryman Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 7-6(9) at the US Clay Court Championship.
It took five match points for Shelton, who won all seven break points he faced, to finally subdue Nakashima after two hours and 13 minutes.
Next up for Shelton will be Argentine fourth seed Tomas Etcheverry, who advanced 6-3, 0-1 when opponent Michael Mmoh retired from the match.
Italy's unseeded Luciano Darderi booked a semi-final berth by upsetting US seventh seed Marcos Giron 6-0, 6-4.
Darderi will next face third-seeded Tiafoe in the other semi-final after the American beat Jordan Thompson 7-6 (8), 6-4.
