World quantity 5 Andrey Rublev survived an enormous scare on Friday to achieve the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open, as third seed Frances Tiafoe was surprised by a Chinese teenager. Rublev got here by way of 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in opposition to 19-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils in a rollercoaster 1hr 52min of extremely entertaining tennis at Victoria Park. The Russian high seed will face one other teenager within the final 4 after “Jerry” Shang Juncheng breezed previous world quantity 16 Tiafoe 6-4, 6-4 to notch the most important win of his fledgling profession and attain his first ATP Tour semi-final.

Rublev raced away with the primary set earlier than rising star Fils turned the match on its head with some distinctive attacking play within the second.

Rublev discovered his vary once more at first of the decider to take a 3-0 lead because the teenager from Paris bought right into a working row with the umpire after some failed challenges to tight calls.

The usually fiery Rublev was, against this, calmness personified on the different finish and sealed the match with a second break of serve to maintain his warm-up for the Australian Open, starting on January 14, on monitor.

“I was just trying to be positive to keep saying to myself, I’m doing really well,” Rublev stated of the second set onslaught from Fils.

“And if he keeps playing the same way, only congrats to him.

“There will not be a lot you are able to do when he is serving like that and capturing full energy from either side.”

Tiafoe was always under the pump against tireless Shang who broke in the fifth game and was always in control.

Shang had reached the quarter-final by prevailing in two three-set marathons to oust higher-rated opponents, the seventh seed and 33rd-ranked Laslo Djere and world number 50 Botic van de Zandschulp.

The world number 183, who on Thursday was awarded a wildcard into the Australian Open main draw, showed no signs of being overawed, serving out to take the opener without facing a single break point.

Shang was oozing the fearlessness of youth as he edged 3-2 ahead in the second when Tiafoe dropped his serve again.

The left-hander grew in stature the deeper the match went and eased to a famous victory, the best of his fledgling career, on his first match point after 89 minutes.

“Really powerful match in opposition to Frances,” said Shang.

“I performed him twice earlier than and went down each instances.

“Today was really a mindset change for me. Sometimes you gotta respect the player a little bit less. He’s an amazing player and amazing person.”

Saturday’s different semi-final will likely be an all-unseeded affair that pits Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori in opposition to Austria’s Sebastian Ofner.

Ruusuvuori, the world quantity 69, seemed snug all through as he noticed off Russia’s 67th-ranked Pavel Kotov 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in 1hr 48min.

Ofner, the world quantity 43 from Austria, beat Spanish veteran and eighth seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4 win in 84 minutes.

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