Chile is celebrating in Rome. It is even historic since, for the very first time, two Chilean players are in the semi-finals of a Masters 1000. The day after the qualification of Alejandro Tabilo, another Chilean validated his ticket for the final four of the Roman tournament.
Yet poorly off to a good start, trailing 6-3, 5-5, 15-40, Nicolas Jarry overthrew Stefanos Tsitsipas (3-6, 7-5, 6-4) on Thursday in the quarter-finals. Faced with the Greek’s science of the game on earth, capable of using the entire geometry of the court, he displayed phenomenal power on the forehand and a lot of courage in key moments.
But before claiming the tenth top 10 of his career, the 24th in the world was, logically, shaken. Caught by the throat from the first points, he tried to shorten the rallies, sometimes by rushing to the net behind a big serve, but he was punished by winning passing shots from “Tsitsi” who got himself a break point on one of them, at 2-1. Jarry then aimed the backhand of the Greek who resisted diagonally and stole the Chilean’s entry.
At 4-1, Jarry saved four double break points, but he did not find the key on the return (no break point in his favor over the entire set) and Tsitsipas pocketed the first set without trembling . Imperial on his serve until then, the Greek got a scare at the start of the second set in a game that was well underway (40-0). He faced two break points and, on the second, Jarry’s backhand passing narrowly missed the net.
The violence of Jarry’s forehand got the better of Tsitsipas
It was then the turn of the former world 3rd to miss opportunities: three at 3-3, 0-40, then two others at 5-5, 15-40. He has nothing to reproach himself for in four of them, but his wooden forehand when he had control of the rally at 5-5 undoubtedly left him with some regrets. Especially since, in the process, after a very poor service game marked by three consecutive unforced errors, he gave up his commitment and the set.
In the third set, the two men went blow for blow. And, also, fault for fault. At 1-1, Jarry’s devastating forehand (23 winners on this side in total) stopped for an instant and the Chilean was broken. At 2-1, Tsitsipas returned the favor with several big errors and the free break.
7
This is the 7th time in history that two Chilean players are in the semi-finals of the same ATP tournament. Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu achieved it five times, Gonzalez and Marcelo Rios once. And, therefore, Tabilo and Jarry once too.
The servers then took over, up to 5-4 in favor of the 24th in the world who, thanks to the violence of his forehand, obtained two first match points at 15-40, then a third, all saved . On the fourth, Jarry turned into a fileer. He made the wiper, brought back a smash then raised his arms to the sky on Tsitsipas’ forehand into the net.
