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In one of the most surprising grand slam semi-finals in recent memory, Marco Cecchinato will play the biggest match of his career so far against red-hot favourite Dominic Thiem at the French Open. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 9pm (AEST).
Cecchinato has come from the unknown, knocking over big-name players in upset after upset to make his first grand slam semi-final, easily the best result of his career.
The 25-year-old, who is ranked outside the top 70 in the world (although won’t be come the next rankings update on Monday) barely made it out of the first round, needing a 10-8 final set to get past Marius Copil in a grinding match.
That match would have taken it out of the Italian, but he has shown no adverse effects across the rest of the tournament, beating the lucky loser with the greatest story in tennis, Marco Trungelliti in straight sets, before going past three seeded opponents.
First it was Pablo Carreno Busta, then David Goffin and in the quarter-finals, a four-set win over former world No.1 Novak Djokovic. He has played four sets in each of those matches, but stayed calm, composed and more importantly, in front of the match at all times.
Given his lead-up form, the run has come from nowhere, but he now has his toughest match against Thiem, who was always expected to make the final.
It’s exactly how Thiem has played at Roland Garros as well. The powerful Austrian has swaggered around like he owns the place (of course, that belongs to Rafael Nadal), but he has dropped just three sets and blasted Alexander Zverev out of the tournament in a straight-set beatdown during his quarter-final.
Given he was also convincing against Kei Nishikori, he will be well prepared for this match, having played seven sets of high-quality tennis against strong opponents.
Thiem will want to blast through this one though, knowing a physical grind awaits him in the final, likely against Rafael Nadal. The longer he is stuck on the court, the less chance he has of pulling off the upset in the final.
Prediction
This will be the end of the line for Cecchinato. It’s been a great run through the tournament, but the chance of being able to hang with Thiem on a stage like this is slim to none.
Thiem in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the first men’s semi-final at the French Open from 9pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.