Benoit Paire booked his place in the semi-finals of the Millennium Estoril Open on Friday with a 7-6 6-2 win over Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, while country and top seed Gilles Simon was ousted by Pablo Carreno Busta.
Despite having to save three break points in the opening game of the match, Garcia-Lopez started the match brightly, attacking Paire’s forehand and benefitting from some early forehand errors to break for a 3-1 lead. Paire broke back in the seventh game thanks to a missed volley from the Spaniard and a trademark backhand winner. More errors from Garcia-Lopez included a costly double fault in the eleventh game leaving Paire to serve out the set. However, from 6-5 40-15 Paire was broken following unforced errors and becoming distracted by the crowd. In the resultant tie-break, Paire recovered his concentration and was flawless, taking the breaker for the loss of just two points.
A tie-breaker typically suggests that the set had been tight: in reality, once Paire broke back in the first set he assumed control of the match, which would continue into the second set. In all, Paire won 12 of the last 16 games, which reflects as much his commitment to variety and his opponent’s unwillingness to embrace it. In the third game of the second set, and poised to break Paire’s serve, Garcia-Lopez’s unwillingness to follow in a sliced lob denied him a likely routine volley at the net, and the danger passed for Paire. Two games later, Paire would play 4 drop shots in one game on the way to saving another break point and his willingness to serve and volley also took time and rhythm away from his opponent.
“I think this is my game,” Paire said afterwards. “I play like this every match. I think that’s why I was leading 6-2 3-0 against Murray [in Monte Carlo] because I was trying a lot of shots… I know that if I play like Guillermo long rally on every point, first, second serve, I know I can’t win the match: this is not my style of game. I think I have to change the game because with long rallies for sure I lose.”
Paire goes on to face Pablo Carreno Busta who produced the shock of the tournament by defeating top seed Gilles Simon 6-3 6-4.
Carreno Busta, a finalist in Sao Paulo in February this year, combined attacking intent on his forehand with impressive court craft, pushing Simon back and leaving the forecourt open. Carreno Busta broke in the eighth game of the match and, despite facing a break point, served out the first set 6-3. In the second set, Carreno Busta broke in the third game again using his forehand inside-in to telling effect. Carreno Busta continued playing with creativity drawing Simon into the net. He almost broke the Frenchman for a second time in the fifth game, lobbing Simon and putting away the resulting volley. The two played some engrossing rallies but Simon was unable to pressure the Spaniard’s serve. Carreno Busta served out the match to 15, having not faced a break point in the second set, and overall, winning an impressive 70% of his seconds serves during the match.
Simon, ranked 18, is Carreno Busta’s second best ranking win (after Feliciano Lopez, ranked 15, in Valencia in 2014). Carreno Busta is on the cusp now of his highest career ranking of 49, and should he win the tournament, could creep into the top 40.
Carrerno Busta reflected on the importance of this match. “It’s a really important victory for me, my best victory of the year. I’m working very hard for these matches. These matches are the most important because if you want to be better you have to win these […] so I’m so happy with this victory.”
Paire leads the head to head with Carreno Busta 3-2. They are tied 1-1 on clay with Carreno Busta winning the most recent encounter at the US Open in 2014. This is Carrerno Busta’s third semi final in four years in Estoril.