For now at least, Nick Kyrgios holds the upper hand against his fellow #NextGen star Borna Coric. In their first tour-level meeting on Friday, Kyrgios served freely and blasted forehands to breeze past Coric 6-4, 6-4 and move into the semi-finals of the Millennium Estoril Open.

The 21-year-old Aussie hit 10 aces and won 82 per cent of his service points. Kyrgios also never faced a break point in the one-hour and nine-minute match. Coric, meanwhile, had to work to hold the entire contest, erasing six of eight break points faced. Coric, No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, was trying to go 4-0 in quarter-finals this season but will have to wait until his second meeting with Kyrgios to even their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry.

The two had met twice before on the ITF Junior Circuit, with Krygios winning both contests. Now the World No. 20 advances to his fourth semi-finals of the season, where he’ll face Nicolas Almagro. The Spaniard knocked off No. 7 seed Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-4, 7-6(5). “I’m not going to think about it too much,” Kyrgios said of his semi-finals match. “I know what he’s doing to do, and I know what I have to do to win.”

Almagro, a former World No. 9, improved to 4-0 against Mayer, No. 46 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 30 year old pressured Mayer’s serve all match, converting three of his 11 break points.

Benoit Paire remained undefeated in ATP World Tour quarter-finals this year. The Frenchman dispatched Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(2), 6-2 on Friday. Garcia-Lopez was trying to reach his second consecutive semi-finals, after reaching the final four last week at the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest. Paire, now 4-0 in quarter-finals this year, controlled the match with his first serve, winning almost 80 per cent of those points.

In the semi-finals, Paire will face another Spaniard: Pablo Carreno Busta, who beat No. 1 seed Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4. The No. 8 seed hit five aces and won 70 per cent of his second-serve points. In the first set, Carreno Busta erased both break points faced and converted his only break point against the World No. 18. During the second set, Carreno Busta didn’t face a break point and broke Simon once more. “He was always able to play the right shot at the right moment,” Simon said.

Anyone who’s traveled knows how expensive staying in a hotel can be. For players competing on the ATP Challenger Tour, the cost of staying in a hotel for up to 30 weeks out of the year can add up quickly.

“I was playing in San Francisco two years ago and was looking for cheap accommodation and couldn’t find anything,” said James McGee. “I went into a hostel and was spending $200 a night for a bunk bed with me on the top bunk and my coach on the bottom one.”

For players competing in many of the ATP Challenger Tour events in the U.S., a unique alternative is offered in the form of player housing. Local families offer to take in players for the week, free of charge, providing a more relaxed atmosphere that they see as a welcome change of pace from the routine of hotels.

“They don’t really do housing like this anywhere else in the world,” said Dean O’Brien. “The families are really nice and you get to know a lot more about the cities you’re in since they live there. There are enough weeks when you’re sitting in a hotel room by yourself, so it’s just nice to get to know people.”

Players view local housing as more than a crash pad for the week, though. They often keep in touch with the families and even reunite with them at other tournaments. Bjorn Fratangelo explained that a family he stayed with years ago at a Futures event in Tampa, Florida, recently reached out about coming to watch him play at the ATP Challenger Tour event in nearby Sarasota. For the families, it’s a chance to rub shoulders with professional athletes and get to know them on a more intimate level. 

For some players, saving money on local housing is a significant part of how they keep their expenses down on the road. McGee said that he primarily plays in the U.S. because “I either stay in housing or someone provides me housing for 90 percent of the Challengers I play in.” He’s even occasionally lucked out and been given his own place for the week.

“Someone provided me a condo in Sarasota that overlooked the lake,” said McGee. “I really lucked out. It was the ideal situation.”

He’s also returned to stay with some host families, like the Seifer family in Tiburon, California, which has opened up its home to him during the ATP Challenger Tour event there for the past three years. Although McGee acknowledged that there are financial benefits to staying in local housing, he said the experiences he’s shared with these families have been priceless.

“Building relationships is really what it’s all about,” said McGee. “Your tennis career only lasts for so long, but your friendships are forever.” 

Alexander Zverev continued to build on a career-best 2016 season by defeating top seed David Goffin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the BMW Open by FWU AG on Friday. Zverev, currently ranked a career-best No. 49 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, secured the win in two hours and 22 minutes to move into his fourth ATP World Tour semi-finals.

“He’s been playing really well in the past months, making the semi-finals of two [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000 events, so it was nice to win,” Zverev said.

The German set the tone early in the match, landing 71 per cent of first serves and breaking Goffin twice en route to winning the opening set. The Belgian, who won the pair’s lone previous meeting at the Mons Challenger in 2014, survived seven aces in the second set and pushed the match to a decider. The 19 year old then showed his mettle, only losing three points on serve the rest of the way.

Standing between Zverev and his first ATP World Tour final is third seed Dominic Thiem, who saw off Ivan Dodig 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 12 minutes. Thiem fired eight aces and landed 65 per cent of first serves in the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. The 22 year old, No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is now tied with Novak Djokovic for most tour-level wins on the season (28-7). He is now 12-2 on clay in 2016.

“I’m really looking forward to [facing Thiem],” Zverev said. “We spend a lot of time off the court together. It will be the first of many [matches] for us.”

Philipp Kohlschreiber snapped a six-match losing streak against Juan Martin del Potro with a 6-4, 6-1 quarter-final win. The German saved both break points faced and broke the Argentine four times in the 80-minute encounter. His semi-final opponent will be fifth seed Fabio Fognini, who edged Lucky Loser Jozef Kovalik 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours.

Colombian Duo Into Doubles Final

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah are into the Munich doubles final after defeating Austrians Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya 7-6(5), 6-3 on Friday. The second seeds fired 11 aces in the 82-minute win and await the winner of Oliver Marach/Fabrice Martin and Henri Kontinen/John Peers in the final. 

A 5.6 earthquake hit Taipei, Taiwan, on Wednesday night, but it didn’t faze the players competing in this week’s ATP Challenger Tour event there.

The earthquake was the first of 26 to rock eastern Taiwan between 11:17 p.m. on Wednesday and 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, and was also recorded as the strongest one. Luckily, there were no reports of damage or injuries and it was business as usual on Thursday for the players still on site this week.

“I was sleeping when it happened,” said Luke Saville. “It was a little bit scary, but it was okay once I realised what it was.”

Although this was the first earthquake many of the players had experienced, others were more well-versed in dealing with them.

“It happened when I played in Los Angeles and then in Japan for Davis Cup,” said Amir Weintraub. “This one wasn’t too big, though.”

Semi-final action in Taipei kicks off on Saturday and features No. 1 seed Ricardas Berankis, who is currently on a 13-match winning streak and looking for his third consecutive ATP Challenger Tour title.