World No. 1 Italian Jannik Sinner defeated Russian Andrey Rublev (No. 6) in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to qualify for the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 on Saturday, a warm-up tournament ahead of the US Open.
Sinner, who turned 23 the day before, lost the first set after being broken twice, but held on after 2 hours and 27 minutes of play, against Rublev, who had beaten him last week in the quarter-finals at the National Bank Open in Montreal.
Sinner, winner of the Australian Open earlier this year, fought hard in the second set before rolling through the third, leading 5 games to 1, to become the first Italian to reach the semi-finals in Cincinnati.
In the semi-finals he will face the winner of the match between German Alexander Zverev (No. 4) and American Ben Shelton (No. 14).