By Chris Oddo | Friday March 2, 2018
Pablo Cuevas had to battle hard but eventually emerged with his 15th consecutive win at the Brasil Open.
Photo Source: Brasil Open
Pablo Cuevas continued his torrid tennis at the Brasil Open, notching his 15th consecutive win to reach the semifinals, 6-2, 6-7(13), 7-6(5) over Leonardo Mayer.
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Cuevas would have liked to do it sooner, but the Uruguayan failed on four match points in a second-set tiebreaker before rallying to close off Mayer in a third-set breaker when he converted his fifth match point.
"It was a very tough, long match," Cuevas said. "I had a lot of chances in that second set. Then in the third, my return wasn't so good, plus Leo was serving so well.”
Cuevas will face Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the semifinals on Saturday. Fognini has reached three semifinals in 2018. The World No.20 will be the first Top 20 player that Cuevas has faced at his winning streak in Brasil.
Fognini made short work of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Friday, breaking three times on four opportunities and saving both break points he faced to win 6-4, 6-2 and improve to 5-3 lifetime against the Spaniard.
Fognini owns a 3-2 lifetime edge against Cuevas.
The other semifinal will be contested by 22-year-old Nicolas Jarry of Chile and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina. Jarry has now won 10 of his last 12 matches and reached back-to-back semifinals after defeating Albert Ramos-Vinolas for the second consecutive week, 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(3).
Zeballos prevented Rogerio Dutra Silva from reaching his first career ATP semifinal by coming back for a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4 win.
The Chilean has won 10 of 12 matches and will bid for his first ATP final on Saturday.