By Chris Oddo | Friday February 9, 2018
Stan Wawrinka reaches the semifinals at the Sofia Open in Bulgaria, defeating Viktor Troick in straight sets.
Photo: Sofia Open Tennis
Stan Wawrinka reached his first semifinal since Roland Garros 2017, and more importantly his first since having his left knee repaired and spending more than two months on crutches.
The Swiss improved to 9-0 lifetime against Serbia’s Viktor Troicki with a 6-1, 7-6(3) win.
Wawrinka won the final seven points of the second-set tiebreaker after battling from 5-3 down in the second set to level.
The Swiss struck four aces and won 15 of 22 second-serve return points.He will face either Mirza Basic or Maximilian Marterer in the semis on Saturday.
Earlier on Friday Marius Copil of Romania upset No.3-seeded Gilles Muller, 6-4, 6-4, to reach his first career semifinal, while Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik defeated Marcos Baghdatis, 7-6(2), 6-4.