Jannik Sinner became the youngest semifinalist at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in 16 years after a 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory over fourth seed Andrey Rublev.
The 11th-seeded Italian hit 20 winners while saving a set point in the second set tiebreaker in their one hour, 36 minute quarterfinal contest. Sinner is the first teenager since Rafael Nadal in 2005 to reach the last four.
19-year old Italian continues breakout season with fourth top ten win
Sinner capitalized on an early break chance in the third game as Rublev double-faulted to hand the Italian the lead at 2-1. After saving a break point of his own in the sixth game, he broke for a second time to go ahead 5-2.
Serving for the set, Sinner needed just one opportunity as Rublev fired a backhand long to take the opener in 32 minutes. At the start of the second, the first five games easily went to the server as the Russian went in front 3-2.
The two men traded breaks and eventually, Rublev would find himself trailing 0-40 at 5-5. He did well to escape the trouble to hold and the set would go to a tiebreaker.
In the breaker, Sinner jumped out to a 4-1 lead only to see Rublev rally and claim five of the next six points and hold a 6-5 advantage. The Italian hit a forehand winner to draw level and two points later, an ace on match point sent him into the weekend in the Catalan.