Croatia Open: Popyrin ends Prizmic’s run, books spot in semi-finals

Australian Alexei Popyrin won a tight match against Croat wildcard Dino Prizmic 7-6 (2), 7-5 to advance to the semi-finals of the Croatia Open at the ITC Stella Maris in Umag on Friday evening.

Ahead of his victory, the Australian beat Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi (6-4, 7-5) and Austrian Sebastian Ofner, the No 3 seed (6-4, 6-1). The win is only the second time in 2023 that Popyrin has won three main draw ATP-level matches in a row, equalling his run to the Rome Masters round of 16 in May.

Popyrin, ranked No 90, will face Italian Matteo Arnaldi, the No 7 seed, next.

For 17-year-old Prizmic, this was the best run of the Croatian’s young career, having never won an ATP-level match prior to this tournament. The world No 287 defeated wildcard Duje Ajdukovic (6-1, 6-2) and Hungarian Zsombor Piros (6-2, 6-3) en route to his clash with Popyrin.

Umag ATP250, other quarter-final results (ITC Stella Maris, clay, EUR 562.815, most recent results first):

• Stan Wawrinka vs. Roberto Carballes Baena
• Jaume Munar vs. Lorenzo Sonego: friday
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Jiri Lehecka (1): 3-6, 6-2, 6-4