He believed strongly in this first semi-final in an ATP tournament for 19 months. It got by a small point. Benoît Paire’s four match points in the second set tie-break were not enough against Federico Delbonis on Friday. Manhandled for more than a set and a half, the Argentinian finally won and qualified for the semi-finals of the Hamburg tournament (4-6, 7-6 [9], 6-4), where he will face No. 2 seed Pablo Carreno Busta.
Not necessarily favorite on paper against Federico Delbonis, winner 21 times on clay this season, Benoît has long dominated the Argentine. The score of the first set can almost seem flattering for the latter as the Frenchman was offensive and focused. He regularly stormed the net to avoid the heavy strike from his opponent and enter long lines. Logically, Benoît Paire undoubtedly won one of the best heats of his season.
Four missed match points
The second seemed, for a long time, of the same content with the same winning recipe. But, after having notably aligned nine points in a row and broken Delbonis, the Pair machine suddenly stalled. Errors, small jumps in concentration here and there caught up with the Frenchman, who had not already won, before this match, two games in a row for 547 days. At 4-2, Pair is doing their service, but not the guns. He gets four match points in a suffocating tie-break that he lets out.
We imagine him defeated in the third round, physically borrowed. So he keeps going forward while making more mistakes. He breaks but does not abdicate. He came back behind before giving up his faceoff one last time, at 4-4. Frustrated, Benoît Paire threw a brick on the ground but nothing changed. The French lost but proved that he could once again reach the last four of an ATP tournament.
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