MELBOURNE, Australia – He is the mysterious man that few in the sport heard about a few days ago. But Russia’s Aslan Karatsev made it to the Australian Open semifinals.
In one of the most unlikely races in the history of modern tennis, Karatsev on Tuesday became one of the few players to reach the four finals of a Grand Slam after surviving the qualifying tournament when he defeated Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in four sets 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
Karatsev, 27, who was born in Russia, moved to Israel as a child, then returned to Russia as a teenager to pursue better tennis training, according to The Times of Israel. He had been playing tennis in the countryside for several years, with little success. He never qualified for a Grand Slam before this tournament. He won three consecutive fights at the Australian Open qualifying event in Doha to win a seat in the main event and placed 114th in the world. He was never rated above No. 111.
Dimitrov seemed to have the game under control after the first set, but suffered what appeared to be back spasms in the third set and seemed on the verge of withdrawing for the rest of the game.
Only four other players made it to the Grand Slam semifinals after going through the qualifying event.
Before the Australian Open, he played in pairs for the Russian team in the ATP Cup, a team event in which players represent their countries. Russia won the competition, but not because of Karatsev, who lost the three games he played with two different partners.
His teammates realized that he was playing as well as they had never seen, but none of them would have predicted anything like that.
“We felt that he could do something incredible,” Daniil Medvedev, the best player in Russia and fourth in the Australian Open. “To be honest, being on your first Grand Slam headliner? Winning rooms is exceptional. It is not over yet. “
It certainly is not.
Karatsev will face the winner of the match between Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev, which is scheduled for Tuesday night.