Internationals of Italy, Nicolas Jarry and Tommy Paul in semifinals
The men’s scoreboard is completed at the Foro Italico.
Nicolas Jarry and Tommy Paul advance to the Internazionali d'Italia. The two will face each other in the semifinals after overturning the odds by winning their respective quarterfinal matches against favorites Stefanos Tsitsipas (beaten by scores of 3-6, 7-5, 6-4) and Hubert Hurkacz (7-5, 3-6, 6-3 the final). The other side of the scoreboard will see Alexander Zverev and Rome surprise Alejandro Tabilo face off instead.
Jarry's feat was remarkable, because it was achieved against the more emblazoned Tsitsipas and also because it came on a comeback. In fact, the Greek took a one-set lead in a little more than a quarter of an hour, taking his serve at 3-1 and touching another in the sixth game. The Chilean nullified four break points but failed to straighten out the set, a mission he succeeded more than an hour later in the next set, decided with the only break in his favor: the one that made it 7-5.
Decidedly vibrant then becomes the deciding set, in which the third and fourth games live on a break and counterbreak that in fact move nothing. The balance remains after five very fast games, and everything is decided in the tenth game: here Jarry zeroes in on Tsitsipas, seeking and missing three times the point that would give him victory. And finding it, in the end, on the tenth attempt.
Also sweaty was Tommy Paul’s success, which matured already in the course of a first set almost an hour long and in which the dense exchange between the third and fifth games proved decisive: in fact, as many as three breaks arrived with the American leading by one. Hurkacz makes up for it by taking a 5-5 lead, but a further counterbreak comes that makes the world number 16 prevail over the number 9.
Hurkacz seemed to straighten out his evening in the second set, thanks to two breaks in the fourth and eighth games. The deciding set turned out to be a very long battle, in which Paul seemed to get the worst of it when he found himself down 2-3 and down by a break. At that point he manages to però bring home four games in a row, clinching the Rome semifinal by taking advantage of the fourth match point to his advantage.
