Fognini's title defence ended by in-form Fritz

Mexico City, August 2: Fabio Fognini's Los Cabos Open title defence came to an end with a loss to the in-form Taylor Fritz, while Guido Pella and Diego Schwartzman set up a semi-final showdown.

Fognini, last year's champion in Mexico, bowed out in the quarter-finals with a 6-1 7-6 (7-1) defeat to Fritz on Thursday.

Fritz is coming off a run to the Atlanta Open final and got the better of Fognini to record his 12th victory in his last 14 matches.

The 21-year-old American saved five break points against Italian top seed Fognini, who had won their only previous meeting last year.

Fritz will face Radu Albot in the semi-finals after the Moldovan seventh seed beat 2017 runner-up Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3 6-3.

Pella, the second seed, edged past qualifier Kwon Soon-woo 4-6 6-1 6-2, breaking serve six times.

He will meet Schwartzman in an all-Argentinian last-four clash after the third seed crushed Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1 6-2.

Pella and Schwartzman were the second seeds in the doubles at the tournament, but lost in the quarter-finals on Thursday.