Fernandez Upsets Reid South African Open

Current two-time Junior Masters champion Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina defeated a former two-time Junior Masters champion in British third seed Gordon Reid on Wednesday, 20 April, to reach the men's main draw singles semifinals at the South African Open, part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, in Sun City.

With both players looking to earn a place in their first ITF 1 Series semifinal, it was the younger of the two teenagers that maintained his focus as Fernandez recorded a 6:4 2:6 6:3 victory.

Fernandez now looks set for an intriguing contest against Australian second seed Ben Weekes, who beat Chile's Robinson Mendez 6:1 7:6 in their quarterfinal.

While two of the NEC Tour's younger players contest the semifinal in the bottom half of the draw, the other semifinal will see two of the sport's most enduring talents go head-to-heads as Austria's Martin Legner takes on Poland's Tadeusz Kruszelnicki.

However, Legner's semifinal place was in jeopardy towards the end of the second set of his quarterfinal against Spain's Quico Tur. Tur had two match points in the second set tiebreak, but Legner rode the storm and dominated the final set to win 4:6 7:6 6:2.

Kruszelnicki made much lighter work of his quarterfinal, defeating Brazilian seventh seed Carlos Santos 6:1 6:3 and he and Legner will now go head-to-head for the 55th time on the NEC Tour. While Kruszelnicki is unseeded in Sun City after returning to the tour this season following a two year break, the Pole currently leads Legner 30-24 in their head-to-heads.

German, South African and Spanish players will contest Thursday's women's singles semifinals, but top seed Katharina Kruger faced a stiff challenge from Chile's Francisca Mardones before progressing to the last four.

Top seed Kruger eventually sealed a 6:4 7:6 win over sixth seed Mardones, but her fellow German Sabine Ellerbrock produced a much more dominant performance to defeat British seventh seed Louise Hunt 6:0 6:1.

Fourth seed Kgothatso Montjane and Spain's Lola Ochoa also progressed in straight sets, but Montjane was left frustrated by her own performance despite recording a 6:0 6:4 quarterfinal victory against fifth seed Maria Antonieta Ortiz of Chile. With home support on Thursday in her semifinal against Kruger, Montjane will hope to cause an upset and reach the biggest final of her career to date.

Eighth seed Ochoa may also yet provide a big challenge for second seed Ellerbrock in the other semifinal after the Spanish player defeated Brazil's Natalia Mayara without dropping a game.

Only one game was dropped in any of Wednesday's four quad singles semifinals and that solitary game was won by Italy's Raffaele. However, Raffaele was unable to launch any significant challenge to American world No. 1 David Wagner, who wrapped up a 6:1 6:0 win.

The other three seeds all beat South African opposition in their quarterfinals, with third seed Bryan Barten now set to meet Wagner, while Italy's Marco Innocenti will bid to end at least one of the American challenges when he takes on second seed Nick Taylor.

Both quad doubles semifinals ended in the same result as three of the singles quarterfinals as top seeds Taylor and Wagner defeated Innocenti and Raffaele 6:0 6:0.

The final features South African interest after Lucas Sithole partnered Barten to win the other semifinal against Ferdinand Gallant of South Africa and Zimbabwe's Alex Mkandla also without dropping a game.