Rome Masters: Unheralded Tabilo reaches first Masters 1000 semi

Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, the No 29 seed, continued his breakthrough run at the Rome Masters by beating Chinese Zhizhen Zhang 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals at the Foro Italico in Rome on Wednesday afternoon.

Tabilo, ranked No 32, will face the winner of the match between German Alexander Zverev, the No 3 seed, and American Taylor Fritz, the No 11 seed, next. It’s his first time in the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 event.

“It’s incredible, I can’t believe it! I’m really happy to be in the semi-finals. I’m playing the best tennis of my life. I was very tense at the end, but I tried to put myself in poker face mode so as not to show my emotions. And in the end I served very well,” Tabilo said.

“First time playing Rome, never thought I’d be here right now. It’s just a crazy feeling. It’s been crazy two weeks. There’s still another match, so I got to regroup, keep thinking about my tennis, rest well, come out on Friday with everything I got. It’s been a crazy, crazy ride. Very honoured to be able to play here in the semis on Friday.”

The Chilean beat German Yannick Hanfmann (6-3, 7-6 (4)), Serb Novak Djokovic, the top seed (6-2, 6-3) and Russian Karen Khachanov, the No 16 seed (7-6 (5), 7-6 (10)) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Italian Open, Zhang, ranked No 56, defeated Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan (6-2, 7-5), Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the No 19 seed (6-1, 6-3), American Ben Shelton, the No 12 seed (6-2, 6-4) and Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro (7-6 (4), 6-3).

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

• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tommy Paul
• Alexander Zverev vs. Taylor Fritz