Rome [Italy], May 18 : After a tumultuous second set and thrilling match-ending game, Nicolas Jarry prevailed against Tommy Paul in a tense semi-final at the ongoing Italian Open to advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 final.
In the last game, Jarry had a 40/0 lead, but Paul fought back to tie the score at two sets, forcing the Chilean to save two break points before sealing the win on his fifth match point, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3 in two hours and forty-three minutes. In Sunday's showdown, Jarry will face Alexander Zverev.
The Chilean opened the match with a bang, controlling play with intimidating forehands that put Paul on the defensive. Paul was able to re-enter the match in the second set thanks to Jarry's 24 unforced errors, proving that reward does not always follow risk.
"I was pleased with how I came back with my aggressive tennis in the third set. To finish the match is never easy, but I made it through and it's an amazing feeling," Jarry said as quoted by ATP.
But Jarry's aggression was vindicated midway through the third set when he ripped a crosscourt backhand return deep that drew a retreating Paul into error and handed the Chilean a decisive break for 4-2.
However, it was far from smooth sailing to the finish line, as Jarry learned in the dramatic final game of the match.
"It's in those moments that I play my best tennis. That's when I got for it and if it goes in, amazing, if it doesn't then you give it up. I try to be like that throughout the whole match. It's difficult to maintain that level constantly, but I'm I the final, so..." Jarry said.
But halfway through the third set, Jarry's aggressive play paid off when he smashed a crosscourt backhand return deep, giving the Chilean a crucial break for 4-2 and drawing a retreating Paul into error. But as Jarry discovered in the thrilling match's last game, it was anything but easy sailing to the end.
Since Fernando Gonzalez was runner-up in the Eternal City in 2007, Jarry is the first Chilean to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final.
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