Nicolas Jarry claimed the biggest win of his career, defeating Tommy Paul 6-3 6-7(3) 6-3 in the Italian Open to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 final.
The Chilean, seeded 21st, on Friday became the first player from his country to reach a Masters 1000 final since Fernando Gonzalez in Rome in 2007. He will also move up in the world rankings to 17th. “I think I played my best tennis. I gave it everything and went for it. I did that the whole match. It’s hard to keep that level of concentration, but now I’m in the final,” Jarry said.
He produced a relentless display of power, hitting 13 aces and 35 winners from the baseline to dispatch Paul in two hours and 44 minutes. He took a 5-3 lead in the opener, relying on his service before closing out the set with a brilliant ace. “It was hard to enjoy it. I tried anyway.
“The important thing is that I came back with my best tennis in the third set, and was aggressive. It’s never easy to finish, but I did it and it’s amazing the feeling I have now,” Jarry added.
Paul, the 14th seed, refused to go quietly in the second, pegging back the Chilean’s 4-2 lead to force a tiebreak, which the American won to take the match to a decider. Jarry started the third strongly and opened a 5-2 lead, winning 13 points at the net before securing victory when a Paul backhand went wide.
The 28-year-old, who beat sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals, will meet Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final today. Zverev recovered from a slow start to beat Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 1-6 7-6(4) 6-2.
Earlier on Friday, Zverev — who won the title in 2017 and reached the final the following year — looked in real danger when 29th seed Tabilo raced away with the opening set. The 26-year-old, who beat world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the third round, was playing in his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal, but did not look fazed as he broke Zverev twice in the first set.
Tabilo won five games in a row in taking the opener, but the second was much closer. The Chilean did force the only break point of the set, but Zverev held and went on to win the tiebreak. Zverev raised his game in the deciding set, breaking twice, and was never threatened again en route to his first final of the year.
Reuters
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