The Chilean Nicolas Jarry surprised the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, 8th in the world, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to win his ticket for his first semi-final in the Masters 1000, Thursday in Rome.
Jarry, 24th in the ATP rankings, will face the American Tommy Paul (16th) on Friday for a place in the final, winner earlier in the day of the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (9th) 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
The second semi-final will pit the German Alexander Zverev (5th) against another Chilean, Alejandro Tabilo (32nd).
There will be two Chileans in the final four for the first time in a Masters 1000 and for the first time on the ATP circuit since the Vinal del Mar tournament in 2006.
In difficulty in the first set, Jarry took the upper hand in the second set, thanks to his serve and his powerful shot which considerably hampered Tsitsipas.
The Greek then ideally started the decisive round by taking Jary’s serve, but immediately lost this advantage.
Ten days before Roland-Garros (May 26-June 9), the hierarchy on clay is difficult to establish due to the poor form of some (Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev) and the injuries of others (Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner ), while Rafael Nadal has come back too far to have his usual status as the biggest favorite.
Tsitsipas was the strongest player this season on clay, but he alternated between the good (victory in Monte-Carlo and final in Barcelona) and the less good (eliminations at the start in Madrid and in the quarters in Rome).
