Sixth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas won a battle of Spaniards on Friday when he defeated fellow lefty Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2 to reach the last four at the clay-court ATP 250. Ramos-Vinolas now leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 6-5 and has won eight consecutive sets in their rivalry.

“I think it’s always difficult to play against a player that you know a lot. We’ve played a lot of times and it was a difficult match,” Ramos-Vinolas said in his on-court interview. “I think I played very serious from the beginning until the end and I’m really happy because I beat a really good opponent.”

The 34-year-old has won eight straight matches in Estoril, with two of those victories coming against Verdasco. Ramos-Vinolas needed three sets to triumph in his first two matches this week, but the result was never in doubt against his countryman.

One year after defeating Verdaco 6-3, 6-3 at the Portuguese event, the four-time ATP Tour titlist saved the only break point he faced and won 53 per cent of his first-serve return points to control the match. Ramos-Vinolas will next play 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals competitor Sebastian Baez.

Argentine Baez is eyeing his second final of the season after rallying to defeat Richard Gasquet 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in one hour, 55 minutes, with the French veteran paying the price for putting just 46 per cent of first serves into play.

Baez, who converted five of the six break points he earned, reached the Santiago final in February and is now 13-11 on the season.

“All the matches this week have been difficult and today was no different,” Baez said. “I expect another great battle tomorrow.”