Novak Djokovic was therefore really not beaten by just anyone, in the 3rd round of the Masters 1000 in Rome, last Sunday, since his striker came very close to reaching the final, this Friday, narrowly beaten by the German Alexander Zverev, world No. 5, in the semi-finals (1-6, 7-6[4]6-2) in 2h16.
To think that before this tournament in Rome, the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo (32nd ATP) had only managed once to beat a player ranked among the top 25 in the world… But the 26-year-old left-hander has reached several milestones these recent weeks. Unable to lose a set at the Foro Italico since the start of the tournament, Tabilo attacked his semi-final with his feet on the floor this Friday, as if it were normal for him to compete against a world top 5 on a big Central to aim for a Masters 1000 final, while he was 190th in the world barely a year ago.
A first set of barely half an hour
Particularly skillful in attracting Zverev forward with well-felt cushioning, and noting that the latter had difficulty effectively moving his large frame (1.98 m) in these distant lands, Tabilo largely dominated the first round (6- 1 in 31 minutes).
And as if his arm had become even more loose after this first act, he ostensibly increased the speed of his forehands. His ability to alternate, on this side, curled balls and very fast flat shots contributes greatly to the level reached in Italy. Faced with an eye-catching Zverev but lacking precision for an hour and a half, Tabilo thought he saw the finish line very early. After only 1h11 of play, at 6-1, 3-3, a double fault from the German put him on notice to save an essential break point, which he managed to do by advancing in the court.
World number 4 on Monday?
From that moment on, Zverev was the more convincing of the two, until the tie-break. Then came this decisive game in which Tabilo suddenly had too high a percentage of waste, from three points everywhere, to complete his work. It then became obvious that something had broken in the Chilean, no doubt overtaken by the fatigue of his crazy cavalcade. Confident of his strength, Zverev had no difficulty in widening an irremediable gap in the third set (4-1 double break), to reach the tenth Masters 1000 final of his career and place himself one success away from overtaking Daniil Medvedev in the ATP rankings, to move to 4th place in the world on Monday.
All he has to do now is wait for the second semi-final, this Friday evening, to find out if he will still have a Chilean to face (Nicolas Jarry, 24th) or if it is the American Tommy Paul (16th) who will face him.
2024-05-17 16:09:13
#Alexander #Zverev #secures #qualification #Rome #final #phenomenon #Alejandro #Tabilo
