Intro:

Fabio Fognini and Lucas Pouille advanced to the semi finals of the Hamburg Open on Friday (31st July).

Script:

The quarter-finals of the Hamburg Open got underway on Friday with an all-French encounter first up on the menu.

Lucas Pouille has been in fantastic form so far in Germany and was up against Benoit Paire, another man in excellent touch.

However, the world number 85 wasted no time in putting his talent on display with a wonderful cross court backhand.

He took the first set and served out the second with an ace to win the match 6-3, 6-2.

He can now look forward to a semi-final encounter against Fabio Fognini.

This after the Italian secured a straight-sets victory over England's Aljaz Bedene.

The eighth seed was in good touch and overpowered his opponent to win 6-4, 7-5.

In the other quarter-finals, Rafa Nadal takes on Pablo Cuevas, while the final match sees and all-Italian encounter between Andreas Seppi and Simone Bolelli.