Top seed Mardy Fish and teenaged Ryan Harrison will face off in a semi—final for a second straight week on home hardcourts after both advanced Friday at the Farmers Classic.
Fish, who beat the 19—year—old ranked 94th and rising a week ago in Atlanta on the way to the title, booked his place in the final four as he put out Russian eighth seed Igor Kunitsyn 6—2, 6—4.
Harrison lived up to his reputation as a comeback artist, constructing his fourth fightback from six matches to reach his second ATP semi—final after defeating Lu Yen—Hsun of Taiwan 3—6, 6—3, 6—4.
Second seed Juan Del Potro, the 2008 champion was knocked out as Latvian Ernests Gulbis reached his first semi—final in six months with a 6—2, 6—4 victory featuring 31 winners.
2008 champion Del Potro saved three match points but was unable to close the gap.
“It was very difficult,” said the Argentine. “I got frustrated in the second set when I broke his serve but he broke me back. He was playing with a lot of confidence and took his chances.
“When you play like I did against a player like him, you lose.” Gulbis called the victory “one of the most important wins of my career.” “But I won, I’m happy and I’ll play the semis. My tennis is coming back to where it should be.” Brazilian fourth seed Thomaz Bellucci was upset 1—6, 6—4, 6—1 by American Alex Bogomolov, the next Gulbvis opponent.
Fish spent 73 minutes in his victory over Kunitsyn, notching five aces and 21 winners.
Harrison did it tough after losing the first set, but rallied over nearly two and a half hours as he saved ten break points and moved through with 30 winners and 36 unforced errors against 40 mistakes for Taiwan’s top player Lu.
Fish, playing a day match for the first time this week and a decade older than Harrison, is taking nothing for granted against an up—and—coming competitor. “He’s really improving, he’s much further along at 19 than I was at that age.
“He was a bit nervous last week in Atlanta, so I’m expecting a much tougher match this time. It’s kind of a lose—lose for me — I’m older and I’m expected to win; he’s got nothing to lose and can just swing from the hip.” Harrison can’t explain why he’s so proficient at comebacks after producing his 12th of this ATP season. “I don’t know if it’s a bad start or just getting better during the match,” said the teenager.
“I’m always figuring out the match, thinking what to do next.” Harrison earned his tenth win of the season against 11 defeats as he goes into the Fish match.
