Qualifier Bachinger ousts Nishikori in Metz

ATP St. Petersburg semi finals

• Dominic Thiem (1) defeated wildcard Roberto Bautista Agut (5) 6-4 6-3
• Martin Klizan defeated wildcard Stan Wawrinka 4-6 6-3 7-5, and will play Dominic Thiem in the final

Klizan surprisingly has a 3-0 head to head record against Thiem, although the first two matches were before Thiem had arrived as a top ten player.

Of significance is the match they played in Kitzbühel, Austria, July/August this year.  In Thiem’s backyard, and on his favourite surface, Klizan dumped the top seed en route to his sixth ATP career title.

He’d won in Kitzbühel in 2012 in their first meeting, but fell as fifth seed in the semis; Thiem had only turned pro the year before and needed a wildcard to enter the tournament at 19 years old.

ATP Metz semi finals

• Qualifier Matthias Bachinger caused a huge upset, knocking over top seed Kei Nishikori 2-6 6-4 7-5 

At 31, and after knee surgery over a year ago, the German player, once ranked as high as 85, will jump several places on his hopeful eventual return to the top 100.

Nishikori had beaten Bachinger twice this year, once on the Challenger Tour in Dallas, and later on the ATP Tour in Halle.

Bachinger won from a position of peril, down 3-4 and 0-40 in the third and deciding set, but managed to hold serve and then break for a 5-4 lead.

Nishikori served at 5-6 to force a tie break, but was broken again and Bachinger was through to his first ATP final, repeating the performance of fellow German Peter Gojowczyk, who won this tournament as a qualifier last year.

• Gilles Simon defeated Radu Albot 6-3 6-1, and will play Matthias Bachinger in the final.