By Chris Oddo | Friday, April 11, 2014

 

Federico Delbonis is two matches from his second career title in Casablanca, while relatively unknown Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain is two matches from his first.

Photo Source: AFP

Federico Delbonis is in search of his second clay-court title of 2014 at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, while unheralded qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena is in search of his first.

Delbonis took out Victor Hanescu, 7-6(5), 6-3 to reach the semifinals, winning 16 of 22 points against the Romanian's second serve.

The Argentine who famously defeated Roger Federer in the Hamburg Quarterfinals last year, and had three match points in the final against Fabio Fognini, became the ATP's only first-time title winner of 2014 in February when he won the Costa Do Sauipe title.

Though he's 0-4 on hard courts for the season, the World No. 43 is now 10-3 on clay and knocking on the door of the ATP's top 40. Delbonis is one of only four players born in the 1990's to have earned a title on the ATP Tour. The others are Milos Raonic, Bernard Tomic and Grigor Dimitrov.

Delbonis will face Marcel Granollers in the semis. Granollers took out Pablo Carreno Busta, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0.

On the lower half of the draw, 21-year-old qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena continued his torrid run, taking out Andrey Kuznetsov, 6-4, 6-2 to reach his first career semifinal. Carballes Baena had never won an ATP-level match until this week's event in Casablanca. He has played exclusively on the futures tour this season, going 20-6 with three finals, and owns an 11-13 career record on the challenger circuit.

The current World No. 273 will face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in Saturday's semifinals. Garcia-Lopez got by Benoit Paire in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6(4).