SOFIA, Bulgaria — Top-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut advanced to the semifinals of the Sofia Open by beating eighth-seeded Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-3 Friday.
Bautista Agut won 77 per cent of his service points and converted two of his five break points.
"It is never easy to start a tournament in the quarterfinals, especially when your opponent has played two matches," said Bautista Agut, who had a bye in the first round and advanced with a walkover in the second.
The Spaniard will next face sixth-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. Mueller had 14 aces as he rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the first set to beat third-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (6), 6-4.
In another match, second seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia defeated Philipp Kohlscheiber of Germany 6-3 6-4 to advance to the semifinals.
In the last match of the day, seventh-seeded Slovak player Martin Klizan overcame fourth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy, 6-3, 6-4 securing a berth in the semis