Jaziri, Chardy Advance To Istanbul Semi-finals

Malek Jaziri is one match win away from reaching his first ATP World Tour final at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. The 34-year-old knocked out seventh-seeded Czech Jiri Vesely 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 55 minutes on Friday.

“It was a really important win, as I didn’t feel that I was playing good tennis,” admitted Jaziri. “I didn’t feel good or comfortable right from the start. He served well and played good tennis, so I was making more mistakes. I tried to put more balls in court and competed for every point. I began to feel better and when I broke back at the end of the second set the match completely changed.”

The Tunisian, who recorded the second Top 10 win of his career on Thursday with victory over top seed and defending champion Marin Cilic in the second round, sets up a first-time meeting against fifth-seeded Italian Paolo Lorenzi or Laslo Djere of Serbia.

France’s Jeremy Chardy is close to ending a nine-year wait for a shot at a tour-level singles title after he defeated Thomas Fabbiano 6-2, 6-2 in 77 minutes. The 31-year-old Chardy contested two finals in 2009, winning the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart (d. Hanescu) and finishing runner-up at Johannesburg (l. to Tsonga).

He’ll now challenge Japan’s Taro Daniel, who fought back from an 0-4 deficit in the deciding set to beat Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and five minutes for a place in his first ATP World Tour semi-finals. Two months ago, as a qualifier, World No. 114 Daniel recorded the biggest win of his career over Novak Djokovic in the BNP Paribas Open third round.

Did You Know?

Malek Jaziri dropped to No. 118 in the ATP Rankings on 12 February, but with a run to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals (d. Dimitrov in 1R, l. to Bautista Agut) he began his climb. The World No. 78 achieved his career-high of No. 47 on 13 February 2017.