LISBON/STARNBERG, October 1, 2021
The semi-final line-up for the Del Monte Lisboa Belém Open is set. No. 4 seed Andrej Martin booked his spot in the stage of the last four with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 5 Nikola Milojevic of Serbia at Estadio CIF on Friday afternoon in Lisbon, Portugal.
The World No. 122 from Slovakia capitalized on six of his 12 break-point chances to prevail after one hour and 40 minutes. Martin will next play Andrea Pellegrino. The 24-year-old Italian backed up his win over No. 1 seed and Top 100 player Thiago Monteiro with a solid 6-3, 6-1 victory over home favourite Frederico Ferreira Silva after one hour and 11 minutes.
Andrea Pellegrino backs up his win against top seed Thiago Monteiro with a strong 6-3, 6-1 win against Frederico Silva to reach the #LisboaBelemOpen semifinals. pic.twitter.com/Zh5Gp9l22J
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) October 1, 2021
In the bottom half of the draw at the Lisboa Belém Open, No. 3 seed Hugo Gaston benefited from the retirement of sixth seed Cedrik-Marcel Stebe from Germany. The 20-year-old Frenchman was leading 7-6(3), 4-3 when Stebe was forced to stop playing due to a right adductor injury.
“I hope it is not a big injury for him. I am happy to be in the semi-final, playing another match here,” Gaston said during his post-match press conference.
The lefty from Toulouse will next take on Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan, who rallied past Joao Domingues from Portugal 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-0. The encounter lasted two hours and 44 minutes.
