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Fritz wins twice in one day to step up Eastbourne title defence / Photo: © AFP
Fritz wins twice in one day to step up Eastbourne title defence
Taylor Fritz enjoyed two wins in one day as the world number five beat Joao Fonseca and Marcos Giron on Thursday to move closer to a fourth Eastbourne title.
Fritz's second round clash with rising Brazilian star Fonseca was suspended at one set all due to bad light on Wednesday.
Defending champion Fritz took the first set 6-3, but the 18-year-old Fonseca, ranked 57th, hit back to win the second 7-6 (7/5).
When play resumed on Thursday morning, Fritz won the deciding set 7-5 to reach the last eight.
The 27-year-old, who won the grass-court tournament in Stuttgart earlier in June, returned to court just hours later and was pushed to the brink by fellow American Giron.
Top seeded Fritz eventually prevailed against the world number 46, winning 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 to book a semi-final date with Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Friday.
Davidovich Fokina, ranked 28th, beat Czech third seed Jakub Mensik 6-4, 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
The other semi-final pits French fourth seed Ugo Humbert against American world number 149 Jenson Brooksby.
Humbert beat Billy Harris 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, while Brooksby, who entered the tournament as a 'lucky loser' after a withdrawal, defeated Dan Evans 6-2, 6-3.
In the women's event at Devonshire Park, Australian teenager Maya Joint followed her shock second round victory over former US Open champion Emma Raducanu by reaching the semi-finals with a 6-4, 7-5 win against Russian Anna Blinkova.
Joint, 19, will face 2021 French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat fellow Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.
Alexandra Eala, a 20-year-old Filipino qualifier, won 6-1, 6-2 against Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska to earn a semi-final against Varvara Gracheva.
World number 74 Eala is an emerging talent on the WTA Tour, having made her breakthrough with a surprise run to the Miami Masters semi-finals in March.
French qualifier Gracheva was given a walkover into the last four when Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova pulled out of their quarter-final with a thigh injury.
Krejcikova, the world number 17, is awaiting the outcome of a scan before deciding if she can defend her Wimbledon title next week.
"I'm very sorry to have to withdraw from my quarter-final today in Eastbourne as I'm having some soreness in my right thigh," she said.
"Overnight it just didn't get any better; it actually got worse. I think it's better with Wimbledon in the next couple of days just to rest it and to see what's going on and to resolve that."
G.Miller--SFF
