Roberto Bautista Agut fought back from deficits in the second and deciding sets to beat 2008 champion Mikhail Youzhny on Friday for a place in the Aircel Chennai Open semi-finals.
Second seed Bautista Agut, who is bidding to capture his fifth ATP World Tour title this week, triumphed 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 over seventh seed Youzhny in just over two hours.
Bautista Agut recovered from a set and 1-4 deficit, then a 1-3 deficit in the deciding set. He also saved two break points when he served for the match at 5-4, and will next play fifth seed Benoit Paire for a place in his second Chennai final (also 2013).
Youzhny, who came into the ATP World Tour 250 tournament on a five-match losing streak, had been bidding to beat his highest-ranked opponent since topping No. 6-ranked Milos Raonic in last year’s St. Petersburg Open second round.
Paire progressed to the Chennai semi-finals for the third time (also 2013, 2016) in the past five years by cruising past 2015 runner-up Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-0 in 62 minutes.
Dudi Sela reached his first Chennai semi-final for seven years when he defeated third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-5, 6-4. He will next face #NextGenATP Russian Daniil Medvedev, a Tecnifibre-sponsored player, who reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final after he struck eight aces to beat World No. 6 Marin Cilic’s conqueror, qualifier Jozef Kovalik, 6-1, 6-4 in 85 minutes.