By Chris Oddo | Friday July 21, 2017
Andrey Rublev powered past defending champion Fabio Fognini and into the semifinals of the Croatian Open.
Photo Source: Croatian Open
19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev is playing at a career-high ranking of No.74 in the world at this week’s Croatian Open in Umag—and he’s poised to go higher. The lean, powerful baseliner reached his first career semifinal on Friday evening, taking out defending champion Fabio Fognini, 6-7(5), 6-2, 7-6(2) to reach his first career ATP semifinal.
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Rublev will face World No.412 Ivan Dodig for a spot in his first career final. Former World No.29 Dodig upset top-seeded David Goffin 7-5, 6-3 to win his third consecutive ATP main draw match. Dodig had lost eight straight matches at the tour-level, dating back to Nottingham last June.
Goffin was playing his first event since injuring his ankle at Roland Garros and retiring from his third-round match against Horacia Zeballos.
Italy’s Alessandro Giannessi will face either Jiri Vesely or Paolo Lorenzi in the other semifinal.
Rublev is currently ranked sixth in the ATP’s Race to Milan. He is the highest-ranked teenager in the race.