Dominic Thiem wins twice to reach Lyon final

Top seed Dominic Thiem booked a place in the Lyon Open final by beating Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-4 5-7 6-4.

The world No.8 will face veteran Gilles Simon for the title, after the Frenchman ended Briton Cameron Norrie’s hopes with a 6-1 7-6(6) victory in the other semifinal.

Simon broke Norrie’s serve three times in the first set, but his 22-year-old opponent put up a better fight in the second and forced a tiebreaker that he briefly led before Simon brought all his experience into play.

The 33-year-old saved two set points before seeing out the match, but Norrie will leave Lyon with his reputation greatly enhanced.

Good battle. Good moment.

??????@ThiemDomi defeats Dusan Lajovic 6-4 5-7 6-4 to reach #OpenParc final in Lyon. pic.twitter.com/t2mxGTKnIa

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 25, 2018

The youngster’s run to the last four will see him break into the top 100 in the world for the first time.

Thiem was forced to play twice on Friday after his quarterfinal match against Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was suspended the previous day due to fading light.

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The match resumed with the players level at one set apiece and the Austrian battled for 50 minutes before closing out a 6-7(4) 7-6(0) 6-4 victory.

His semifinal against Lajovic lasted just under two hours, and the 24-year-old will be aiming to win his 10th ATP title on Saturday to get a boost ahead of next week’s French Open.

At the Geneva Open, Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk upset Italy’s second seed Fabio Fognini 6-4 6-4 to set up a final against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, who beat American sixth seed Steve Johnson 2-6 6-4 6-1.

Riske to meet Flipkens in Nuremberg final

Unseeded American Alison Riske cruised past Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens to book her place in her first final of the year at the Nuremberg Open.

Riske broke twice in the first set to seize the advantage and stepped it up again in the second to polish off a 6-3 6-1 win in just over two hours.

.@Riske4rewards books her spot in the @NuernbergerCup final!

Beats Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-1! pic.twitter.com/5v2W6sRXeH

— WTA (@WTA) May 25, 2018

Both Riske and Flipkens were playing their second match of the day, with Riske having earlier beaten Sorana Cirstea – who retired trailing 2-6 7-5 1-0 in their quarter-final – while Flipkens saw off third seed Kiki Bertens 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7-3).

In the final Riske will take on Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, who scored an impressive 4-6 6-3 6-1 win over Czech eighth seed Katerina Siniakova.

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At the Strasbourg Open, Slovakia’s fifth seed Dominika Cibulkova beat Romanian fourth seed Mihaela Buzarnescu 2-6 7-6(5) 6-1 to reach the final.

She will face Russian third seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who led Ash Barty 6-4 1-0 when the Australian top seed retired with a back injury.