Thursday 7 June 2018 13:49, UK
Marco Cecchinato's incredible rise has made him the first Italian in 40 years to reach a Grand Slam semi-final, and the lowest-ranked player to do so since 1999. But where has it all come from?
Age 25 is not the most usual period for a player to make their first impression on the tour, but Cecchinato's run to the final four at Roland Garros, dispatching former world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals having never previously won a Grand Slam match, has done just that
"I think it's changed my life," Cecchinato said, after his fifth straight victory in Paris. "So after Roland Garros, I need some rest and to realise the moment, and we will see my life.
"It's tough to describe my feelings. Now I need to realise the moment, because I will play the semi-final in Roland Garros. It is tough to talk about my emotions, very tough."
Cecchinato's struggle to take in his situation is unsurprising. He has rocketed up the rankings, from No 100 in April to inside the top 30 as things stand.
He is already hot on the heels of Kei Nishikori, Nick Kyrgios and Djokovic, and will enter the top 20 if he can keep up his stunning form against Dominic Thiem; the impressive 24-year-old Austrian already in his third French Open semi-final.
Even if Cecchinato's run comes to an end, it would be incomparable with his last defeat at a Grand Slam - a defeat in first round of Australian Open qualifying in January.
Cecchinato's opponent that day was 319-ranked Bradley Mousley and he was dispatched in straight sets, keeping him outside the world's top 100 and with just £4,250 in prize money. He will net at least 100 times that in Paris regardless of what happens against Thiem.
Since then, he has been on an upward trajectory: qualifying for the Monte-Carlo Masters and beating 31-ranked Damir Dzumhur in April, winning an ATP-250 event in Hungary with wins over Andreas Seppi (ranked 55) and Dzumhur again the following week, and seeing off Fabio Fognini in Germany a little over a month ago.
He has already won double the number of matches on the ATP tour in 2018 than in every other year of his career combined, and to call him a clay-court specialist would be an understatement - he has never won an ATP tour tie on another surface.
Still, it's hardly the kind of form which sets anyone up for a Grand Slam semi-final. But his run has been no fluke, even with the wounded animal of Djokovic proving a different test to the one who achieved a career Grand Slam at the same venue only two years ago.
The magic could have been extinguished before it even began, had Cecchinato not recovered from two sets down to Romanian Marius Copil in the first round before taking the fifth 10-8.
But since then he has been behind in a match only once, and beat tenth seed Pablo Carreno Busta and World Finals runner-up David Goffin before beating Djokovic.
A reliable first serve hovering around the 70 per cent mark has been beneficial, and so too has his low error count.
But it was against Djokovic where his game really came into its own, landing 54 winners to take the biggest scalp of his career - in name, rather than number - in three-and-a-half hours.
"I had to push. I knew I had to take risks," he said. "Because if I played just to stay in points, I could never beat Novak."
Why has he emerged to such prominence overnight? There is no clear-cut answer, but the Palermo native is more at home on clay than anywhere else.
For Thiem, who is looking to shake off a hoodoo of not winning a French Open semi-final, Cecchinato will be a genuine concern.
"He is full of confidence, probably the most confident player out there right now," the Austrian said.
"He never won a match at a slam, and now he's in the semi-finals. So everything is going easy for him. He can play completely free."
