Lajal comfortably had comfortably beaten Luxembourg's Chris Rodesch in straight sets, 6:4, 6:2 in the round of 16, previously defeating Norwegian Viktor Durasovic in a much more protracted first round match.

In the opening game of another close match, this time with Bertola on Friday, Lajal, ranked 145th worldwide and tournament ninth seed, went 40:0 up against his opponent's serve. However, he was unable to convert the break, then ended up losing his own service game. From this 2:0 deficit, however, the Estonian won four games in a row and held the Swiss player, ranked 274th by the ATP, to love in the last two service games of the first set.

In set two, Lajal had chances to break in two games, yet Bertola once again fended off three break points, then took his own chance in the eighth game to take the set 6:3, and push the match into a decider.

In that decider, Lajal once again failed to convert his first break point in the fourth game, but made up for that in the sixth game, and then came back from 15:40 down in the seventh. He took the last game without dropping a point, and with it, the set and match.

The entire encounter lasted two hours and nine minutes.

Lajal's first serve success rate stood at 58 percent; he won 73 percent of points on his first serve and saved seven of nine break points faced.

Lajal was also able to conduct the post-match on-court interview in the French language.

He faces fifth-seeded Spaniard Martin Landaluce, who is nine places higher than him in the world rankings, in the semifinals. The pair have not met on court competitively before.

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