ATP Generali Open: Martin Klizan completes semi-final in Kitzbühel

Martin Klizan is the last player to reach the semi-finals of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel: The Slovakian defeated Dusan Lajovic in three sets after defending two match points.

By Jens Huiber from Kitzbühel

After all, the organizers of the Generali Open 2018 are in league with the weather, at least until 7:30 p.m.: While it was raining heavily over the Schwarzsee in Kitzbühel, Martin Klizan and Dusan Lajovic could continue their work undisturbed a few hundred meters further on. Then, however, when the Slovakian was leading by break and 3:2 in the third set, a shower set in, which let the ball children pull the tarpaulins across the court.

Actually this quarter-final day was planned as a show run for the big stars of the tournament, but the four top seeded Dominic Thiem, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Fernando Verdasco and the two-time champion Robin Haase had already said goodbye on Wednesday.

After Maximilian Marterer retired in the first match of the day, Lajovic was the only one left – and the 28-year-old Serb did justice to him in the first set, winning 6-4, but Lajovic missed two match points in the tiebreak: Klizan fended off the first with a double fault and the second as a serve.

The 90-minute break was just in time for Dominic Thiem’s conqueror: Klizan did not give up a single game after resumption and entered the semi-finals with 4:6, 7:6 (6) and 6:2.

In the only quarter-final, which was not played on the Center Court, Jaume Munar won 7:6 (3) and 6:3 against Taro Daniel this afternoon. The Spaniard made up for a huge 4-0 error start, but still needed exactly two hours to book his place in the semi-finals. For Munar, who trains at Rafael Nadal’s academy and meets Dusan Lajovic in the second match after 1:00 pm on Friday, a premiere on ATP tour level.

Here the single tableau in Kitzbühel