Arthur Fery vs Aleksandar Kovacevic — QF — Winston-Salem Open

The serve decided this, and it was the loser's: Kovacevic got eight aces out of his and handed back seven double faults at a 50 percent first-serve rate, and once Fery had absorbed the opening set — the first he had dropped all week — the No. 4 seed's delivery took over, no double faults and 61 percent of second-serve points won to Kovacevic's 51. The turn came instantly. Fery broke in game 2 of the third for 2-0, and the 96th-ranked Kovacevic, who took 10 of 44 return points against the Frenchman's first serve, found no route back across two hours and seven minutes. A Winston-Salem semifinal is the payoff on a breakout built almost entirely on grass: a Wimbledon last four in July, no tour-level title yet on record, and 4-3 on hard courts this season as the standing question.