By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday September 27, 2019

Denis Shapovalov will bid to reach his first ATP final on Saturday.

Though it might seem odd that the rising Canadian has yet to play an ATP title match, it’s true—Shapovalov has lost all six of his previous ATP semifinals.

The Canadian reached a seventh career semifinal on Friday at the Chengdu Open with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over Egor Gerasimov of Belarus. The 20-year-old southpaw dropped just three points on serve in a near perfect third set to finally eliminate the 26-year-old World No.98.

Erasimov, who knocked off top-seeded John Isner in the second round behind 24 aces, was broken twice on three opportunities in the match. He was in the midst of a rich vein of form, having reached the semifinals last week in St. Petersburg after defeating World No.13 Matteo Berrettini.

Shapovalov moves on to face Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the last four at Chengdu. Carreno Busta eased past Chile’s Cristian Garin 7-5 6-2. The Spaniard has split his two previous meetings with Shapovalov.

The lower-half semifinal in Chengdu will feature Alexander Bublik and Lloyd Harris.

Bublik saved two match points and denied Grigor Dimitrov of his 300th career win, 5-7 7-6(9) 7-6(3). The Kazakh fired 35 aces and saved the match points in the second set breaker to reach his second semifinal of 2019.

“It’s been a good week for me, and beating Grigor is a great achievement for me,” Bublik said, according to ATPWorldTour.com. “The second set tie-break was tough, I never thought about being match points down, but just playing my own game and serving well.”

Bublik has now crushed 73 aces in three rounds at Chengdu.

Harris struck 25 of his own to defeat Joao Sousa 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 on Friday. The South African, a lucky loser in Chengdu, is into his first tour-level semifinal.