Monte Carlo: Albert Ramos-Vinolas scored his second straight upset at the Monte Carlo Masters as the 15th seed beat tournament number five Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 on Friday.
After dumping out world number one Andy Murray in the third round the day before, the diminutive Spaniard returned to knock-out mode as he tamed Cilic to surge into the first Masters 1000 semifinal of his career.
He will on Saturday face Frenchman Lucas Pouille who came from behind in the final set to overhaul Pablo Cuevas 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours; the Uruguayan lost serve seven times.
“I know Pouille, he’s a young player coming very strong. It will be super difficult,” Ramos-Vinolas said.
The Spanish surprise winner remains perplexed at the source of his top form.
“To be honest, I think I’m playing good. I’m competing very good. But I cannot tell you exactly what’s happening,” the 29-year-old said.
“I played good tournaments in South America in February on clay. Here I’m playing really good, competing all the points. I cannot really tell you what is happening.”
Cilic led their series 3-1 going in, but the Croatian fell victim to a few dozen forehand errors as his big game never truly gained traction in the battle over two and a half hours on the Monte Carlo clay.
In later quarterfinals at the Roland Garros warm-up event second seed Novak Djokovic faces Belgian David Goffin, while Rafael Nadal continues his bid for a record 10th title at the tournament, playing Argentine Diego Schwartzman. — AFP
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