Mark Lajal through to Michigan ATP Challenger 100 tournament semifinals

Estonia's top player Mark Lajal has made the semifinals of the Cranbrook Tennis Classic ATP Challenger 100 tournament in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan after overcoming British player Arthur Fery (ATP 349th) in three sets 6–1, 5–7, 6–3 in the quarterfinals.
Lajal, ranked 181th in the world, had previously beaten Australia's Omar Jasika in round one and Wimbledon third-rounder August Holmgren (Denmark) in in round two, with both matches wrapped up in straight sets in under an hour.
In his clash with Fery, 23, Lajal took five games in a row after a 1–1 tie started off the first set, losing only six points in that streak.
Fery served better in set two, preventing Lajal from even reaching a break point. While the Estonian saved two break points he was facing himself in the fourth game, he lost his serve at 6–5, with the Briton holding his own serve in the next game, to take the set.
Lajal broke early in the deciding set, only for Fery to level things up, winning two of Lajal's service games in a row, but faltering on his own service. The key games were played in the middle of the set when, at 2–2, Lajal broke to love and saved two break points in the next game. Finally, at 5–3, he broke again, also with the cushion of his own serve coming in the next game – which he held to take the match.
Lajal put in a first serve success rate of 61 percent and won 75 percent of those points. Fery converted 46 percent on his first serve. Lajal converted five break points presented to him to Fery's two.
He next plays against 26-year-old Taiwanese player Yu Hsiou Hsu, ranked 236th in the world, in the semifinal on Saturday evening.
The pair have not met on court before Hsu has won 14 tournaments in his career so far, though only one Challenger level competition— in Sydney in 2022. The semifinal is his furthest progress at that level so far this year; he has reached two quarterfinals in 2025.
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Editor: Elisabeth Siivelt, Andrew Whyte