Tommy Paul of the U.S. shakes palms with Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz after profitable his quarter remaining match within the Italian Open on May 16, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Tommy Paul has produced the largest clay-court results of his profession on the Italian Open. And he’s nonetheless going.
The American outlasted ninth-ranked Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday to earn a spot within the semifinals on the Foro Italico, following up from a straight-set victory over defending champion Daniil Medvedev.
Paul broke the big-serving Hurkacz seven instances but in addition dropped his personal serve six instances.
“My game plan coming in was, I got to get in as many of his service games as possible and try and get a couple of breaks. So on that aspect, I did very, very well today,” Paul mentioned. “But my next match, I’m probably going to focus on holding serve a little bit more.”
Before beating Medvedev, Paul had by no means defeated a top-20 participant on clay. Now he’s defeated two top-10 gamers back-to-back for the primary time in his profession — on any floor.
In the semifinals on Friday, the Sixteenth-ranked Paul will face both Monte Carlo Masters champion Stefanos Tsitsipas or Nicolas Jarry, who had been taking part in their quarterfinal later.
The different semifinal match will characteristic 2017 Rome champion Alexander Zverev in opposition to Alejandro Tabilo, who eradicated top-ranked Novak Djokovic within the third spherical.
Also later, the ladies’s semifinals featured top-ranked Iga Swiatek in opposition to U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff and second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in opposition to Danielle Collins.
Paul is trying to turn into the primary American man to achieve the Rome remaining since Andre Agassi gained the trophy in 2002. Together with Gauff and Collins, there are three American semifinalists.
Rome is the final massive warmup match earlier than the French Open begins in 10 days and Paul has by no means been previous the second spherical at Roland Garros.
Paul was higher on the longer rallies than Hurkacz and twice got here again from a break down within the deciding set.
Hurkacz eradicated document 10-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal within the second spherical.
Source: www.thehindu.com
