Nicolas Jarry, Tommy Paul pull off stunners to reach Rome semis

Nicolas Jarry and Tommy Paul pulled off three-set upsets to advance to the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Thursday in Rome.

Jarry, the No. 21 seed from Chile, downed No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. Paul, the American 14th seed, knocked out No. 7 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Jarry and Paul will meet in the semifinals, with No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany facing No. 29 Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in the other. It's Paul's third ATP Masters 1000 semifinal and Jarry's first.

Of Jarry's 36 winners, 23 came on his forehand. He finished with twice as many winners as unforced errors, while Tsitsipas hit 20 winners but suffered 17 unforced errors.

"I think beating Stefanos on clay is a good achievement," Jarry said. "Certainly happy with my fight today, for how I played and how I maintained myself. I kept trying to find different ways to have chances on his serve. I knew I was playing good. I had to adjust some things in the backhand so he didn't push me back, that's why he played so good. I was able to do those things and I'm extremely happy for the win."

Jarry lost the first set but neither player broke serve in the second until the very end, when Jarry scored four points in a row to secure the set and extend the match.

With the third set knotted 4-4, Jarry pulled out the ninth game and then broke Tsitsipas on his third match point in the 10th game.

"I always practice, always trying to find ways to be better, be stronger, be happier, enjoying it more," Jarry said. "The last two matches, I've enjoyed it a lot so that's my greatest achievement so far."

As for Paul, he led 2-1 in the second set but let his advantage slip away, and Hurkacz forced a third set. Hurkacz took a 2-0 lead in the third but Paul quickly tied it at 2-2 and 3-3 before breezing through the crucial seventh game to take the lead for good.

"I started off pretty well, but things really got away from me there in the second set, and at the beginning of the third," Paul said. "I just had to stick around, fake a little energy to get myself going there in the third. I started looking for my forehand more, started hitting it bigger, and playing with a little bit more intensity. That was probably the key for me in the end."

Paul, who has already defeated defending champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia, absorbed Hurkacz's eight aces, saved 12 of 18 break points and converted 77 of 13 chances to break Hurkacz.

--Field Level Media