"This is an incredible feeling": Karatsev beat Dimitrov and reached the semifinals at the debut Australian Open

Aslan Karatsev managed to win the title of the main sensation of the Australian Open tennis championship even before meeting with Grigor Dimitrov.

At the age of 27, the Russian tennis player first made his way into the main draw of the Grand Slam tournament and immediately reached the quarterfinals, having dealt with two seeded rivals along the way.

First, the ninth racket of the world, Diego Schwarzman, was defeated, and then the talented Felix Auger-Alyassim was defeated.

Moreover, the Canadian took the first two games, but the Vladikavkaz player made a phenomenal comeback and took over.

As for the opponent in the quarterfinals, we can safely say that Karatsev was a little lucky.

Among all the quarter-finalists, Dimitrov occupied the lowest place in the ATP rankings (21st) and could not boast of high results recently.

In 2020, he only twice passed the quarterfinals at major competitions, and his best achievement at the majors was getting into the fourth round.

At the same time, at last year's Australian Open, he capitulated already in the second, losing to the young American Tommy Paul.

By and large, his entry into the quarterfinals was more a coincidence than a sign of progress.

In the first round, he met Marin Cilic, who vaguely resembled himself, and in the second - the 166th racket of the planet Alex Bolt.

Both failed to take a set from him.

The next two opponents were more venerable - in the third round, Pablo Carreño-Bust was beaten, and in the fourth - the triumphant of last year's US Open Dominic Thiem, but in these cases there were some nuances.

The Spaniard suffered an abdominal muscle injury and lasted only 39 minutes on the court, and the Austrian appeared in Melbourne in not the best shape.

This became noticeable even during the tense confrontation with Nick Kiryos, and in the match with the Bulgarian it became obvious.

Nevertheless, at first, the notorious difference in class still affected.

Karatsev successfully started and even made a break, but then stalled.

This was largely due to problems with the filing.

Not only did he hit the first ball much less frequently (45% - 61%), but he looked extremely insecure on the second.

Out of 16 draws, he took only four and made three double faults.

Aslan was often in a hurry and tried to solve everything with one or two blows, but turned out to be inaccurate.

As a result, in the first game alone he had 19 unforced errors - almost four times more than Dimitrov's (5).

As a result, five lost games in a row, and with them the set.

It seemed that Dimitrov would not miss his own and would be able to develop the advantage.

First, he took his serve to zero, and then began to put pressure on the enemy's enemy.

The next two games at the reception, Grigor created serious problems for the opponent and was very close to getting a comfortable advantage in the score.

In total, on this short segment, he earned seven (!) Break points, five of which fell on the second game of the game.

For almost 11 minutes, Karatsev fought desperately and still managed not to yield.

As it turned out, this broke Dimitrov a little.

At first the tennis players exchanged serves, and at the very end of the game the Bulgarian wavered altogether.

With the score 4: 4, he made two double and two unforced errors, which predetermined the outcome of the game.

Karatsev took the chance, did not lose a rally on his own serve and restored parity in sets.

The next two games could have turned out to be much more tense, if not for Dimitrov's uncovered problems with his back.

He clearly felt them during the second set, and in the third they began to have a serious impact on his game.

The Bulgarian slowed down and could no longer resist Karatsev, who was gaining momentum.

Moreover, the Russian showed exemplary tennis, winning 86% of points on the serve and making only three unforced errors.

Dimitrov took a medical break in the hope of resolving back problems, but he failed to make any significant progress.

Yes, in the fourth set, he chalked up not one, but two games, but this was only a weak consolation.

Karatsev again played confidently and did not allow his opponent to take more than two points on his serve, while he answered with two breaks.

As a result, the strong-willed victory of the Russian - 2: 6, 6: 4, 6: 1, 6: 2.

Thus, Karatsev continued to make history and became the first tennis player in the Open Era to make it to the semi-finals of his first Grand Slam tournament.

In addition to him, only five made it through qualification to this stage of the Major, and only one of them did it in Australia.

In 1977, Bob Giltinan defended a similar bar.

At Wimbledon, John McEnroe and Vladimir Volchkov can boast of a similar achievement, at Roland Garros - Philip Dewulf.

For reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, Karatsev is entitled to prize money in the amount of $ 662 thousand - more than in his entire career.

By the age of 27, the native of Vladikavkaz had never played in the Masters tournaments, and he earned a total of only $ 618 thousand on Challengers and Futures.

Already on Thursday, Karatsev may go down in history as the first tennis player to make his way to the final of his debut Grand Slam tournament, but this will be extremely difficult.

In the next round, he will face the winner of the confrontation between the first and seventh rackets of the planet - eight-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev.

“An incredible feeling, of course - the first time in the main draw, the first time in the semifinals.

Awesome!

I didn't know about Grigor's injury.

From the start of the match, it was difficult for me to control my excitement.

True, it was difficult.

In the second set I tried to find the right style of play, and in the third I saw that Dimitrov was holding onto his lower back.

Plus, it was too hot on the court, ”Karatsev said after the match.

He added that he is trying not yet to think that in a day he will go to court against Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev, not to mention the hypothetical final against Daniil Medvedev or Andrei Rublev.

“I play without thinking further than the next match,” summed up Karatsev.