St. Petersburg: Joao Sousa advanced to his first career ATP tour semi-final by beating fourth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-3 on Friday at the St. Petersburg Open.
The 89th-ranked Portuguese, who had a 17-20 record on the tour before this tournament, broke Tursunov in the eighth game of the second set and closed out the match with a forehand down the line on his second match point.
In Saturday's semifinals, Sousa will face Guillermo Garcia-Lopes of Spain, who upset eighth-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-4.
Earlier, sixth-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-2. He will next play Michal Przysiezny of Poland, who ousted seventh-seeded Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7), 1-6, 6-3.