(Rome) The Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, who defeated Novak Djokovic in the third round, qualified on Wednesday for the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 in Rome by dominating without trembling the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (56e world) 6-3, 6-4.
“I’m undoubtedly playing the best tennis of my life… There, I’m trying to remain impassive, but inside, things are boiling! “, commented the Chilean.
“At the end of every match, I’m a little tense so I tried to stay calm, smile and, thank God, I served so well at the end that it helped me finish,” he said. -he adds.
At 26, Tabilo (32e world) will play his first semi-final in a tournament above the 250 category. It will be against the German Alexander Zverev (5e) or to the American Taylor Fritz (13e), opposite in the evening.
“I hope to play at the same level and even a little better,” said Tabilo, who will have a day of rest before this semi-final scheduled for Friday given the new format of the Roman tournament spread over twelve days.
Facing Zhang, he experienced much less difficulty than beating the Russian Karen Khachanov in the previous round (7-6, 7-6 in more than two and a half hours).
He broke in the first set to break away 4-2 and converted his second set point, not without saving two points. break.
The Chinese then immediately conceded his throw-in and found himself trailing 2-0 without ever being able to catch up.
Tabilo concluded the match with an ace on his first match point after 1 hour 26 minutes of play.