Rome Masters: Paul books spot in last four with 150th tour win

American Tommy Paul, the No 14 seed, moved into the last four of the Rome Masters by winning against Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 7 seed, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 at the Foro Italico in Roma on Thursday.

It is the 150th match win of his career on tour, and steers him into his third Masters 1000 semi-final.

It was a topsy-turvy match with 13 breaks of serve – and a last game that lasted 15 minutes.

“I started off pretty well, things got away from me in the second set and beginning of the third. I had to stick around…I started looking for my forehand, hitting my forehand bigger, and playing with a little more intensity,” he said afterwards.

Paul, ranked No 16, will face the winner of the match between Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 6 seed, and Chilean Nicolas Jarry, the No 21 seed, next.

The American beat Russian Aslan Karatsev (6-4, 6-2), German Dominik Koepfer (6-4, 6-3) and Russian Daniil Medvedev, the second seed (6-1, 6-4) ahead of his victory.

It is the first time he has beaten two Top 10-ranked players in the same tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Hurkacz, ranked No 9, won against Spaniard Rafael Nadal (6-1, 6-3), Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No 25 seed (7-6 (7), 6-2) and Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 17 seed (5-7, 7-6, 6-4).

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Roma Masters 1000, other quarter-finals results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.877.020, most recent results first):

• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Taylor Fritz (11): 6-4, 6-3
• Alejandro Tabilo (29) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-3, 6-4