SAN MARINO/STARNBERG, July 19, 2025

Matteo Gigante continues his gritty run at the 32nd edition of the Internazionali di Tennis San Marino Open ATP Challenger Tour event, securing his place in the semifinals with yet another comeback victory — his third in a row. Roared on by a passionate home crowd at the Centro Cassa di Risparmio di Montecchio, the 23-year-old Italian battled past France’s Luka Pavlovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the final four.

The third seed, who was stopped at the quarterfinal stage here last year by Fabio Fognini, had to once again dig deep. Gigante was the first to break in the opening set, but Pavlovic — riding a career-high ranking of No. 194 — responded immediately and went on a five-game run to claim the set 6-2, closing it out with a precise backhand volley on his third set point.

The second set followed a similar script early on. Gigante broke first, only to see Pavlovic break back and level at 2-2, even saving two more break points in the process. The Frenchman continued pressing and grabbed another break, but Gigante responded with determination, winning three of the next four games. With the set finely balanced at 5-4, the Roman southpaw earned a critical break to force a decider.

Riding the momentum, Gigante surged to a 3-0 lead in the third. Pavlovic, a three-time Challenger finalist over the past year, clawed back to 3-2, but Gigante held firm, extending his lead to 5-2. Although the Frenchman fended off three match points to hold, Gigante finally sealed victory in the next game with a deft forehand drop volley after two hours and 24 minutes of play.

Comeback mode

Matteo Gigante turns it around against Poljicak 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the last eight in San Marino#ATPChallenger | @federtennis pic.twitter.com/WcrWq2Z8DS

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) July 17, 2025

“I’m starting to get a bit tired of these tough, grinding matches,” joked Gigante after the win. “But seriously, the support from the crowd has been incredible. I’ve struggled at times this week, but I’m proud to have reached the closing stages of the tournament. Now I need to raise my level if I want to make the final. I’ll rest up and give everything on Saturday.”

Klein stuns Neumayer to set semifinal clash with Gigante

Gigante’s opponent in Saturday’s semifinal will be Slovakia’s Lukas Klein, who produced a composed performance to overcome Austria’s Lukas Neumayer 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4 in a grueling quarterfinal contest.

After narrowly losing the opening set in a tiebreak, Klein – who reached a career-high ATP ranking of No. 109 last summer – switched gears. The 27-year-old adopted a more aggressive approach, frequently approaching the net and executing well-timed serve-and-volley plays to disrupt Neumayer’s rhythm.

Key to the Slovak’s success was his consistency on serve: Klein landed 71 per cent of first serves and faced just one break point across the final two sets. A single break in each set proved decisive, with Klein sealing the win after two and a half hours with his sixth ace of the match.

This marks Klein’s third ATP Challenger semifinal of the year, following strong performances in Pau and Prague.

Tirante keeps rolling, Prizmic joins him in semifinals

In the bottom half of the draw, Argentina’s Thiago Tirante kept his red-hot form going with a commanding 6-3, 6-3 win over France’s Harold Mayot. The 24-year-old from La Plata, seeded second this week, reached the final in Trieste just last Sunday and has dropped just one set in San Marino so far.

Tirante will next face Croatia’s Dino Prizmic, who produced a dominant display in Friday’s last quarterfinal of the evening session. The 18-year-old Next Gen star, seeded fifth, dispatched Germany’s Justin Engel 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour to set up a mouthwatering semifinal clash.

Results – Friday, 18 July 2025
Singles – Quarterfinal

Lukas Klein (SVK) d [7] Lukas Neumayer (AUT) 67(3) 64 64
[3] Matteo Gigante (ITA) d Luka Pavlovic (FRA) 36 64 63
[5] Dino Prizmic (CRO) d Justin Engel (GER) 62 62
[2] Thiago Agustin Tirante (ARG) d Harold Mayot (FRA) 63 63

Doubles – Semifinal

Milos Karol (SVK)/Vitaliy Sachko (UKR) d Andrew Paulson (CZE)/Michael Vrbensky (CZE) 64 62
[1] Karol Drzewiecki (POL)/Ray Ho (TPE) d Siddhant Banthia (IND)/Alexander Donski (BUL) 75 64