The singles semifinals are set to go down at the GSL Open on Saturday, with two mouthwatering match-ups. Simon Yitbarek, an 18-year-old Swedish qualifier, confronts the in-form Frenchman, Tom Jomby, while Dan Added takes on 7th seed, Niels Lootsma of the Netherlands.
Simon Yitbarek vs. Tom Jomby [3]
Simon Yitbarek is enjoying a really fine week in Abuja. The Swedish teenager has come into his first career semifinals without dropping a set. All three opponents he’s faced—Joseph Imeh, Jack Draper, and top seed, Sadio Doumbia—en route to the semis have retired midway through their contests. However, in all three matches, Yitbarek had been leading.
Before coming into Abuja for the ITF World Tour events, the young gun endured a dismal start to his season, competing in just one main draw match (and losing) at the M25 event in Aktobe, Kazakhstan, in February. However, he hit his straps at the Tombim Open, reaching the quarterfinals, where he fell to eventual champion, Sadio Doumbia. He would go out in the first round of the Dayak Championships the following week, but has now made it to the semifinals of the GSL Open and certainly seeks to reach the final. But Tom Jomby stands in his way.
Jomby has been in devastating form. The 28-year-old, who’s ranked 401 in the world, is on an eight-match winning run and did not surrender a single set in racking up those wins. The Frenchman won the Dayak Championships last week and with the way he’s playing at the moment, it’s hard not to see him reaching another final and even claiming back-to-back titles.
The odds here favour Jomby, and it’s going to take some serious work from Yitbarek to cause an upset.
Dan Added vs. Niels Lootsma [7]
France’s Dan Added and 7th seed, Niels Lootsma, go head-to-head for the second time in as many weeks. Both men met in the second round of the Dayak Championships last week, with Added securing the win, 6-4, 4-1 (rtd). The Frenchman will contest his third straight semi-final in Abuja on Saturday and will hope to get it right this time and reach his first ITF World Tour final in 16 months.
Added has had a nice season so far, making runs to the quarterfinals of M15 events in Veigy-Foncenex, France, and Monastir, Tunisia, in January and February, and then a semifinal finish in Oslo, Norway, in March, before his fine showings in Abuja. Can he find the extra to push through?
Lootsma, meanwhile, is chasing his second title this year, having secured the M25 Aktobe crown in Kazakhstan in February, and reached another final following that title-run. This week, like Added, he, too, has dropped just a set en route to the semifinals, beating Arvid Nordquist and Jacob Gamble in straights, before outdueling Gilbert Soares Junior in three.
Will he get his revenge against Added and reach his third final of the season?
Into the doubles now, the Indian pair of Arjun Kadhe and Sundar Prashanth will square off against the French-Greek duo of Dan Added and Michail Pervolarakis for the title.
Kadhe and Prashanth spent only 40 minutes on court in their straight-sets semifinal victory over Danylo Kalenichenko and Niels Lootsma. Added and Pervolarakis, meanwhile, didn’t step a foot on court as they walked over Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul, who couldn’t compete due to Doumbia’s injury in his singles quarter-final match.
Saturday’s Order of Play
Starting at 10:00
Niels Lootsma (NED) [7] vs. Dan Added (FRA)
Followed By
Simon Yitbarek (SWE) vs. Tom Jomby (FRA) [3]
Not Before 15:00
Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Sundar Prashanth (IND) [1] vs. Dan Added (FRA) / Michail Pervolarakis (GRE) [3]