Aslan Karatsev beat Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 after 1 hour and 40 minutes inside Manolo Santana Stadium to reach the first Masters 1000 semifinal of his career. Karatsev becomes the second qualifier to advance to the semifinal in Madrid tournament history and the first since Fabrice Santoro in 2002. Karatsev saved all three break points he faced in the first set.
Zhang has become the first Chinese player to reach the quarter finals at Masters 1000 level after beating Denis Shapovalov, Cameron Norrie and Taylor Norrie in the first three rounds. He advanced his third tour-level quarter final. He has moved up to world number 66 in the ATP Live Ranking.
Karatsev held serve in the first game with a smash winner. Zhang won his first service game with a hold at love for 1-1. Karatsev made a backhand error to face three break points in the third game.
Karatsev saved them to hold with a crosscourt forehand winner to hold serve for 2-1. Zhizhen fended off a break point with a service winner to hold serve at 3-3 with a backhand down the line winner.
Both players held on their next service games to set up a tie-break. Zhang earned an early mini-break and won two points on his serve to open up a 3-0 lead. Karatsev pulled the mini-break back in the sixth game on the sixth point with a backhand crosscourt winner and earned a mini-break to take a 4-3 lead. Karatsev won his sixth consecutive point with a backhand crosscourt winner to earn three set points. The Russian player sealed the tie-break 7-3 after Zhizhen made a double fault.
Karatsev earned an early break at the start of the second set when Zheng netted a forehand. He held on his serve and sealed the second set 6-4 with a smash winner. “I am happy with my condition. Playing well and feeling well. From the qualifying, match by match, it has got harder, so mentally you have to be there more. Because you opponent doesn’t give you any free points so you have to be there yourself. The important thing is now to recover well”, said Karatsev.
