METZ: Stan Wawrinka maintained his impressive run in Metz to march into the last four with a three sets win over Mikael Ymer on Friday. Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam winner who has slumped to 284th in the world due to injury, saw off his 100th ranked quarter-final rival 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5). It followed the Swiss 37-year-old’s Thursday heroics when he beat former world number one Daniil Medvedev for his first top-10 victory since 2020. Wawrinka came through two rounds of qualifying to make the main draw of the ATP event and has now won five straight matches. Speaking after his 2hr 49min win on Friday Wawrinka noted with a smile: “My rival is 13 years younger than me, so it was tough physically. The pleasure was there throughout the match, and my level was good even if there were some small mistakes.” He will now face Kazakh Alexander Bublik for a shot at his first ATP title since Geneva in 2017. Last year’s Metz winner Hubert Hurkacz, seeded two, saw off France’s remaining hope Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 6-2. The Pole next plays Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego who beat American Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-4.