Tsitsipas outplays Coric to reach semi-finals in Rome, plays Medvedev next

Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 5 seed, advanced to the last four of the Rome Masters by winning against Croat Borna Coric, the No 15 seed, 6-3, 6-4 at the Foro Italico on Thursday evening.

Tsitsipas, ranked No 5, will face Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No 3 seed, next.

Coric threatens fightback in second set

Tsitsipas dominated the first set and a half as he led 6-3, 4-2, with a break point to go up by two breaks at 5-2.

But Coric, who famously fought back from the dead and saved six match points in beating Tsitsipas at the US Open in 2020, began to dig in again and as Tsitsipas threw in a couple of double faults, he levelled ay 4-4.

But the Greek hit back again, breaking with a brilliant backhand return to lead 5-4 and then serving out to 15 to finish off the match.

The Greek beat Portuguese Nuno Borges (6-3, 6-3), Italian Lorenzo Sonego (6-3, 7-6 (3)) and Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No 18 seed (7-5, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Italian Open, Coric, ranked No 16, defeated Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (4-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5)), Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena (7-6 (3), 6-1) and Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan (3-6, 6-4, 6-3).

Rome Masters, other quarter-final results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Daniil Medvedev beat Yannick Hanfmann (Q): 6-2, 6-2
• Casper Ruud (4) beat Francisco Cerundolo (24): 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Holger Rune (7) beat Novak Djokovic (1): 6-2, 4-6, 6-2