METZ, France — Top-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria beat sixth-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4, 7-6 (5) to reach the Moselle Open semifinals on Friday, keeping alive his bid to reach the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals for the first time.
Thiem withstood 16 aces from the big-serving Muller, taking the only break of serve in the match during the first set. The 10th-ranked Thiem won 86 per cent of first-serve points and did not face a break point.
Three of the eight slots for the Finals — held in London in November — are still up for grabs, and Thiem was in seventh place before this tournament.
He next faces fourth-seeded Gilles Simon of France, who is bidding to win at Metz for the third time.
Simon advanced with a 7-6 (2), 6-0 win against Malek Jaziri, breaking the Tunisian’s serve five times on his way to beating him for the third time in as many meetings.
The top four seeds are through to the last four, although two of them did it the hard way.
No. 2 David Goffin of Belgium, who won this tournament in 2014, downed No. 8 Nicolas Mahut of France 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4.
He next faces No. 3 Lucas Pouille, a U.S. Open quarterfinalist last month.
Pouille had 17 aces in beating Julien Benneteau 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3 in an all-French match.
