Monday 02 / June / 2025
Rome : 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 in 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 the final, so..." Jarry said.
But halfway through the third set, Jarry's aggressive play pushed 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.
