ATP roundup Novak Djokovic celebrates birthday with quarterfinal win in Geneva

Second-seeded Novak Djokovic advanced to the semifinals of the Gonet Geneva Open on Thursday, his 38th birthday, with a 6-4, 6-4 win over eighth-seeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi in Switzerland.

The Serbian avenged a loss to Arnaldi last month at the Mutua Madrid Open. Djokovics semifinal opponent is British qualifier Cameron Norrie, who eliminated fifth-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia 7-6 (6),6-4. Norrie saved four of five break points.

Sixth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland saved all three break points in upsetting top seed Taylor Fritz 6-3, 7-6 (5). Hurkacz won 39 of 45 first-serve points (87 percent). Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner rallied past fourth-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the other quarterfinal.

Bitpanda Hamburg Open

Third-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia, who won this event in 2020, advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Italys Luciano Darderi.

Sixth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada outlasted unseeded Frenchman Alexandre Muller 7-6 (4),6-7 (6),6-3 in a match lasting 89 seconds shy of three hours. Auger-Aliassime had the edge in aces (6-0) and converted 4 of 12 break points, to 2 of 6 for Muller.

In other quarterfinal matches, Italys Flavio Cobolli dominated the second set in knocking off Spains Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (4),6-0; and Argentinas Tomas Martin Etcheverry ousted Czech Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-3.

--Field Level Media REUTERS

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