Rome Masters: Unheralded Tabilo reaches first Masters 1000 semi
Alejandro Tabilo defeated Zhizhen Zhang 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday afternoon. He’ll play the winner of the match between German Alexander Zverev, the No 3 seed, and American Taylor Fritz, the No 11 seed, in the next round
Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, the No 29 seed, continued his breakthrough run at the Rome Masters by beating Chinese Zhizhen Zhang 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals at the Foro Italico in Rome on Wednesday afternoon.
Tabilo, ranked No 32, will face the winner of the match between German Alexander Zverev, the No 3 seed, and American Taylor Fritz, the No 11 seed, next. It’s his first time in the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 event.
“It’s incredible, I can’t believe it! I’m really happy to be in the semi-finals. I’m playing the best tennis of my life. I was very tense at the end, but I tried to put myself in poker face mode so as not to show my emotions. And in the end I served very well,” Tabilo said.
“First time playing Rome, never thought I’d be here right now. It’s just a crazy feeling. It’s been crazy two weeks. There’s still another match, so I got to regroup, keep thinking about my tennis, rest well, come out on Friday with everything I got. It’s been a crazy, crazy ride. Very honoured to be able to play here in the semis on Friday.”
The Chilean beat German Yannick Hanfmann (6-3, 7-6 (4)), Serb Novak Djokovic, the top seed (6-2, 6-3) and Russian Karen Khachanov, the No 16 seed (7-6 (5), 7-6 (10)) earlier in the tournament.
In the previous rounds of the Italian Open, Zhang, ranked No 56, defeated Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan (6-2, 7-5), Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the No 19 seed (6-1, 6-3), American Ben Shelton, the No 12 seed (6-2, 6-4) and Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro (7-6 (4), 6-3).
Rome Masters 1000, other quarter-finals results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.877.020, most recent results first):
- Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Nicolas Jarry
- Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tommy Paul
- Alexander Zverev vs. Taylor Fritz
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