Mattia Bellucci continued his sublime Rotterdam Open run on Friday, taking out No. 6 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-2.
The Italian qualifier, currently ranked at No. 92 in the world, has been on a tear at this week’s ATP 500 tournament.
He stunned Daniil Medvedev in the previous round and has now backed up his big win, reaching his first ATP Tour semi-final.
Bellucci earned the biggest win of his career in the previous round, outlasting world No. 5 Medvedev 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Tsitsipas.
The 23-year-old had already proven that he could hang with the best in his last match, but he took things to a new level on Friday. Bellucci produced a confident performance against Tsitsipas, dominating as he dropped just six games to advance to the semis.
Bellucci outclassed the No. 6 seed during the 64-minute match, hitting 22 winners compared to Tsitsipas’ 16. The Greek star left the court having failed to convert all four of his break points.
The qualifier was delighted with his latest scalp and celebrated with the fans, signing autographs and taking photos with spectators by his bench.
Bellucci has well and truly become the giant killer in Rotterdam this week. And he will aim to keep his fairytale run going against third seed Alex de Minaur on Saturday.
Tsitsipas had already been weary of the threat the Italian posed. Ahead of their quarter-final, he admitted he’d been keeping an eye on the qualifier when the draw was made.
“I have seen him a few times, he plays well,” the world No. 12 said. ” I was surprised that he was in the qualifiers because in my opinion he is at a higher level than them from a tennis point of view.
“I knew that there would be a good chance of facing him here, I had a qualifier in the first round. He has won some good matches and he is one of those who can do well here.”
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