LONDON (Xinhua) -- Italian Matteo Berrettini and Marin Cilic of Croatia, the only two remaining seeds at the Queen’s Club, kept their winning streak to reach the men’s semifinals in the grass-court tournament.
The defending champion and second seed Berrettini overcame a slow start in the quarterfinal to beat American Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-2 after 75 minutes.
“Today was very tough to play. It was very windy and hot, so I made some mistakes but I was there,” said the 26-year-old, who was 1-4 behind Paul in the first set.
“I fought through and I feel my game was getting higher and higher the more I was playing, so I am really happy with it,” said the runner-up at Wimbledon last year.
Berrettini will face Dotic van de Zandschulp in the semifinals as the Dutchman saw off Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-2, 6-4.
The No. 7 seed Cilic reached the semifinals at the Queen’s Club for the sixth time by defeating Finnish qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6(2), 6-4.
The 33-year-old former U.S. Open champion reached the French Open semifinals for the first time earlier this year.
The two-time champion at the Queen’s club will fight for a final place against Serbian Filip Krajinovic as the 30-year-old ended home player Ryan Peniston’s surprising journey by beating the wild card 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.