Rain delayed Friday’s schedule at the 2019 Oracle Pro Series Orlando, held at the USTA National Campus, making it a late night for those still competing in doubles. Highlighting the day was American wild card Maria Mateas continuing her stellar level of play to reach the singles semifinals while the top four seeds on the men’s side all found their way to the final four.

Marking the sixth of seven stops of the Oracle Pro Series this fall, the week features men’s and women’s ITF World Tennis Tour $25k events.

In the top half of the men’s singles draw, No. 1 Javier Barranco Cosano (Spain) and No. 3 Nicolas Alvarez (Peru) both advanced in straight sets. Barranco Cosano put an end to fifth-seeded American Ulises Blanch’s week with a 6-2, 6-3 victory, while Alvarez overwhelmed qualifier Dragos Constantin Ignat (Romania) 6-0, 6-2.

The bottom half of the draw featured two matchups between top eight competitors. No. 2 Pedro Sakamoto (Brazil) shook off a slow start to come back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph against seventh seed Adam Moundir (Morocco). His next opponent will be No. 4 Tomas Martin Etcheverry (Argentina), who survived a back-and-forth affair with eight-seeded Bastian Malla (Chile) 7-5, 0-6, 6-2.

Alvarez and Sakamoto, the men’s doubles top seeds, got back on court in the evening for their semifinal clash with Blanch and Genaro Alberto Olivieri (Argentina). It was the unseeded team grabbing a tight opening frame, six games to four, in addition to putting themselves in a position to close out the win in straight sets. However, the second set was pushed into a tiebreak, where Alvarez and Sakamoto came through, 10 points to eight. The No. 1 seeds did not let go of momentum from there, racing through the decisive match tiebreak 10-3.

The American pairing of Charlie Emhardt and Alfredo Perez took down their second seeded duo of the week, fighting off multiple match points to upset No. 3 seeds Justin Butsch (United States) and Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Argentina) 2-6, 6-2, 11-9. Emhardt and Perez also reached the final last week in Fort Worth.

Since losing her opening set of the week 6-0, women’s No. 1 Aranxta Rus has reeled in six consecutive sets, including a 7-6(1), 6-3 effort over American Claire Liu on Friday. Liu was coming off an upset of No. 6 Daniela Seguel (Chile) in the previous round, and was up to the challenge early of taking on a current WTA Top 100 foe. However, Rus proved too strong in the crucial points of the first set before taking control in the second. Next up for Rus is No. 8 Stephanie Wagner after the former Miami Hurricane brushed aside fellow German Julyette Maria Josephine Steur 6-3, 6-1.

Competing now full-time as a professional following one season as a member of the Duke women’s tennis team, wild card Maria Mateas (United States) secured another victory in Friday’s quarterfinals with a 7-6(2), 6-1 score line over Australian Seone Mendez. Awaiting her on Saturday will be Romanian Irina Fetecau, who outlasted seventh seed Renata Zarazua (Mexico) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Both Wagner and Zarazua did come back out on the court in the evening to find success in doubles. Wagner paired up with Katherine Fahey (United States) to hold off American duo Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes 1-6, 6-1, 10-4. Zarazua, part of the third-seeded team in the draw with Carolina Meligeni Rodrigues Alves (Brazil), moved on via a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Lea Boskovic (Croatia) and Mendez.

Saturday’s matches are slated for an 11 a.m. start time. For more information on the 2019 Oracle Pro Series, click here.