WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Ilya Ivashka, Emil Ruusuvuori and Mikael Ymer all took down seeded opponents – including No. 1 Pablo Carreno Busta – on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Winston-Salem Open.
Ivashka beat Carreno Busta 7-6 (2), 6-3, upending the world’s 12th-ranked player. That sent the 27-year-old from Belarus into Friday’s semifinals to face Russuvuori, a 22-year-old from Finland who beat 14th-seeded Richard Gasquet 7-6 (5), 6-1.
The winner of that semifinal will reach their first ATP Tour hard-court final.
Ymer followed by beating 13th-seeded Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-3 in the first night quarterfinal. He’ll face the winner of the Carlos Alcaraz-Marcos Giron match in Friday’s semifinals.
Ivashka, ranked No. 63 in the world, twice converted break-point opportunities while holding serve throughout the match against Carreno Busta, a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2017.
Ruusuvuori beat Gasquet — a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist — to claim his fourth straight-set win in five tournament matches.
Ymer’s win came after he broke Tiafoe’s serve three times in the third set, ending the 23-year-old American’s run that had included a second-round win against Andy Murray.
The hard-court tournament is a tuneup for the U.S. Open, the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, which starts Monday in New York.
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