Roberto Bautista Agut into semi-finals in Sofia

05 February 2016 09:23

Roberto Bautista Agut, the tournament's top seed, progressed to the semi-finals of the Sofia Open with a 6-4 6-3 defeat of number eight seed Adrian Mannarino.

The Spaniard won 77 per cent of his service points, and also converted two of five break points.

"It is never easy to start a tournament in the quarter-finals, especially when your opponent has played two matches," Bautista Agut, who had a bye in the first round and in the second advanced with a walkover, told reporters.

He next faces Luxembourg's Gilles Muller after the number six seed hit 14 aces to overcome a 5-2 deficit in the first set and defeat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, the third seed, 7-6 (8/6) 6-4.

There were also victories for Serbia's number two seed Viktor Troicki, who beat Germany's Philip Kohlschreiber, the number five seed, 6-3 6-4, and Slovakian number seven seed Martin Klizan via a 6-4 6-3 defeat of Italy's Andreas Seppi, the number four seed.

All eight seeds reached the quarter-finals in Sofia, only the second time since 2009 that has happened on the ATP World Tour.

Source: PA