Vukic into maiden ATP Tour semi, de Minaur bows out

Aleksandar Vukic celebrates earning his maiden ATP Tour semi-final berth at the Atlanta Open. (EPA PHOTO)

Australia's Aleksandar Vukic has continued his rise by clinching a maiden ATP Tour level semi-final berth, but countryman Alex de Minaur's quest for a third Atlanta Open title is over.

Sydneysider Vukic knocked off hometown hero Christopher Eubanks 6-4 6-4 after their Friday night quarter-final had been delayed more than two hours by rain.

Defending champion de Minaur fell to Frenchman Ugo Humbert 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in an even later quarter-final finishing after 1am local time.

Humbert closed out the match by winning 13 straight points on serve and will now come up against Vukic in the semis.

The 27-year-old Vukic is ranked a career-best No.82 in the world, having reached three Challenger Tour finals in recent months, including a title triumph in Busan, South Korea in May.

This week’s run has seen him double his ATP Tour-level match win total on the season to six and he has now beaten the world No.31 (Yoshihito Nishioka) and No.32 - the highest-ranked opponents he has ever defeated - in back-to-back matches.

The other semi-final will be an all-American affair with top seed Taylor Fritz to face eighth seed J.J. Wolf.

Fritz overcame Kei Nishikori 6-4 6-2 in their quarter-final while Wolf downed Germnay's Dominik Koepfer 6-2 6-3.

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