Tennis: Carreno Busta reaches Indian Wells semi-finals
Pablo Carreno Busta beat Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) to reach Indian Wells semi-finals.
INDIAN WELLS (AFP) - Spain s Pablo Carreno Busta saved two match points en route to a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Uruguay s Pablo Cuevas Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the ATP Indian Wells Masters.
A tense third set between the duo saw Cuevas unable to convert match points against the Spaniard s serve in both the 10th and 12th games as they took the contest to a decisive tiebreaker.
The drama was heightened by Cuevas s tumble on the first of those match points as he lunged for a backhand -- necessitating a mid-game medical timeout for treatment on his scraped right hand.
Things stayed tight in the tiebreaker, Carreno Busta gaining a match point at 6-4 when Cuevas sent a backhand long, and sealing it with a backhand volley to reach the first Masters semi-final of his career.
Carreno Busta avenged a semi-final loss to Cuevas in Sao Paulo this month, where the Uruguayan went on to win the title.
The Spaniard next faces either world number three Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland or eighth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Wawrinka, who held off tenacious lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets on Wednesday, is trying to reach the Indian Wells semi-finals for the first time.
Thiem, who defeated Carreno Busta to lift the Rio de Janeiro singles title, has never made it to the semis in an elite Masters event.
