Carreno Busta, Tiafoe, Gasquet upset at Winston-Salem but Alcaraz moves into semis

Ivashka to take on Ruusuvuori while Alcaraz will meet Ymer in the semi-finals of the Winston-Salem Open

Pablo Carreno Busta at Roland Garros 2021 Credit: Federico Pestellini / Panoramic

August 27, 2021

Top seed Pablo Carreno Busta, 13th seed Frances Tiafoe and 14th seed Richard Gasquet were all knocked out of the quarter-finals of the ATP Winston-Salem Open on Thursday while Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz, seeded 15th, avoided the upset bug to advance to the semi-finals.

Carreno Busta, ranked No. 12 in the world and the 2016 Winston-Salem champion, was upset 7-6(2), 6-3 by Ilya Ivashka, ranked a career-best No 63 currently.

“I had a great match today. These conditions suit me,” Ivashka said as quoted by the ATP Tour website. “I think he had more pressure because he’s the top seed so for me it was a good challenge to see what my level is and to compete with these guys, so for me it was a great match.”

Ivashka will take on Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, who upset former world No 7 Gasquet, 7-6(5), 6-1 in just over one-and-a-half hours.

“I thought that first set was a very high level. He’s a great player. He’s been playing on tour almost more years than I have in my life,” Ruusuvuori said as quoted by the ATP Tour website. “The break back [in the first set] was key. Obviously, we saw that everything wasn’t quite there physically with him so that’s a pity.”

27-year-old Ivashka leads Ruusuvuori 1-0 in meetings at the ATP Tour level.

Alcaraz hoping to avenge Australian Open loss against Ymer in semis

Carlos Alcaraz, Madrid, 2021 — Carlos Alcaraz

18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz continued to impress in his break-out season as he defeated Marcos Giron, a decade older than him, 7-6, 6-2. The Spaniard won his first ATP singles title in Umag earlier this year and will be aiming to reach the second singles final of his career this week.

Alcaraz will take on Mikael Ymer in the last four. The Swede upset 13th seeded Tiafoe 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 in the only three-set quarter-final of the day. Ymer holds a 1-0 lead over Alcaraz having won their first round encounter at the Australian Open earlier this year in four sets.