WINSTON-SALEM — Top seed Richard Gasquet suffered a surprise 7-5, 6-3 loss to an unsung John Millman in the quarterfinals of the Winston-Salem Open Thursday.
Millman, ranked 81st in the world, broke Gasquet five times in the match to reach his first career ATP semifinal.
“Gasquet is a top player. Playing and beating him is very satisfying,” Australian Millman told reporters.
“Every week that I'm playing an ATP World Tour event, I gain more confidence that I can compete at this level, and I'm proud of that.”
Millman is an unlikely contender this week. He was knocked out in the second round of singles play at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, then had to get through qualifying to make the main draw last week in Cincinnati.
He won one main-draw match at the Western & Southern Open before falling to ninth-ranked Dominic Thiem of Austria.
Next up for Millman is a matchup with 16th seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, who knocked off Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-3.
Second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut rolled past Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 6-2. The match was over in 61 minutes as Bautista Agut avoided ever facing a break point.
He takes on ninth seeded Viktor Troicki who outplayed 15th seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the last quarterfinal match.
Kvitova advances
Petra Kvitova moved closer to a third straight Connecticut Open crown after defeating Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-1 to reach the semifinals Thursday.
Kvitova, who won this event the last two years as well as in 2012, stormed past her Russian opponent as she looks to join Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki as a four-time winner in the tournament.
To do that she will have to take down top seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who had little trouble winning her quarter-final match, topping Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-4.
Swedish qualifier Johanna Larsson pulled off an upset when she beat second-seed Roberta Vinci 7-6 (9) 6-1.
Larsson had lost in the final round of qualifying for the tournament, and only made the draw when other players withdrew.
“It always helps to play many matches and to play good tennis,” Larsson said. “It helps keep you calm and you know when you go out there on court, you're going to be a tough cookie to beat.”
Larsson, who is ranked 62nd in the world, now has a semi-final matchup with Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Svitolina, the 10th seed, defeated Russia's Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-1. — Agencies
