Third seed Calvin Hemery took advantage of a brief break in the rain to defeat fellow Frenchman Florent Bax 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the Rwanda Open on Saturday at RP Kigali/Kicukiro Ecology Tennis Club. The 31-year-old Hemery reached his first M25 final in Kigali, where he will face Zimbabwean Benjamin Lock on Sunday. The first set began under sunny skies, with Hemery looking calm and composed as he held his service games and applied pressure on Bax, who struggled to match his opponent’s pace. Hemery maintained his advantage to take the opening set 6-4. The weather became a factor early in the second set. Bax adapted well to the changing conditions and led 2-1 before strong winds brought rain, forcing the match to be suspended with the players tied at 3-3. The match had lasted one hour and 16 minutes at that point. Following the brief interruption, Hemery returned strongly and needed just 24 minutes to close out the match. He won the second set 6-4 to book his place in Sunday’s final. In the other semifinal, Zimbabwean Benjamin Lock upset top seed Max Houkes in three sets, winning 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-2 to secure his place in the final. Lock edged a tightly contested opening set in a tiebreak, but the Dutchman responded by taking the second set 6-3. Lock regained control in the deciding set, winning 6-2 to complete the comeback and set up a final against Hemery.
