The German Alexander Zverev, who is currently number 2 in world tennis and was ranked number 1 in the tournament in Rio de Janeiro of the ATP 500 series with a prize pool of 2.4 million dollars, went out the back door after being eliminated in the quarterfinals by the Argentine Francisco Comezana after 6:4, 3:6, 4:6. Thus Comezana, who is ranked number 86 in the world rankings, brought the sensation of the clay tournament in the Brazilian metropolis, BTA reported.
Zverev had difficult matches in the first rounds as well, and now he gave way to his brave opponent. The first set was interrupted several times because of a drone flying near the court. This unnerved Zverev, who at one point wanted to send the ball very high towards the flying object. The German still won the first set, then Comezana led the second 5:2, before leveling with his fourth set point.
The 24-year-old Argentine was trailing 0:3 in the third set, but was applauded by the entire audience after he managed to level at 4:4. Comezana also won the last two games, which was the biggest victory of his career so far.
In the semifinals of the tournament, he will face Frenchman Alexandre Muller, who defeated another Argentine - Francisco Cerundolo - 7:5, 6:1.
Muller was initially behind Cerundolo, who played in the final in Buenos Aires a week ago, but managed to level at 4:4, and then made a breakthrough for 7:5. In the second half, Muller was emphatic and determined to fight for a second ATP title after his trophy in Hong Kong a month ago.
The other semifinal in Rio de Janeiro will be all Argentine, after last year's champion Sebastian Baez defeated Chun-Hsin Tseng of Taiwan 6-4, 6-1. He will meet his compatriot Camilo Hugo Carabelli, who defeated Portugal's Jaime Faria 7-6 (5), 6-4.