Mattia Bellucci took out another top seed in Rotterdam (Image: Getty)
Mattia Bellucci continued his sublime Rotterdam Open run on Friday, taking out No. 6 seed 6-4 6-2.
The Italian qualifier, currently ranked at No. 92 in the world, has been on a tear at this week’s ATP 500 tournament.
He stunned in the previous round and has now backed up his big win, reaching his first ATP Tour semi-final.
Bellucci earned the biggest win of his career in the previous round, outlasting world No. 5 Medvedev 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Tsitsipas.
The 23-year-old had already proven that he could hang with the best in his last match, but he took things to a new level on Friday. Bellucci produced a confident performance against Tsitsipas, dominating as he dropped just six games to advance to the semis.
Bellucci outclassed the No. 6 seed during the 64-minute match, hitting 22 winners compared to Tsitsipas’ 16. The Greek star left the court having failed to convert all four of his break points.
The qualifier was delighted with his latest scalp and celebrated with the fans, signing autographs and taking photos with spectators by his bench.
After the match, the Italian explained that he was simply trying to enjoy himself on the court. “To be honest, at the beginning, I felt that I was not enjoying it as much as against Medvedev so I really had to do something to make that change,” he said.
Mattia Bellucci stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-final (Image: Getty)
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“But I was feeling that I was playing great tennis and maybe that brought me up. I really enjoyed every moment of it.”
Asked why he felt things were falling into place this week, Bellucci replied: “Now because I think I did big, big work – also during matches – but with my coach, I was really speaking about it and he said that sometimes I was a little bit thoughtful on the court and he wanted me to be a little bit more free.
“So I think I’m doing it pretty well and it’s working. Definitely I know that I’m playing against amazing opponents and that every day is big a challenge because I know I’m still not at this level, maybe I can play two or three matches but then I really have to keep the energy up. But I’m definitely looking forward to any new step.”
The 23-year-old is now inside the top 70 in the live rankings and has already banked £108k in prize money for his efforts in Rotterdam – but he’s not bothered about the numbers.
“To be honest, I’m still not thinking about prize money a lot because I’m very young,” Bellucci added.
“But definitely, it’s not about points, it’s really going on court and thinking I can play these matches, feeling that I’m having that rhythm every day, and that’s something very important for me.”
Bellucci has well and truly become the giant killer in Rotterdam this week. And he will aim to keep his fairytale run going against third seed on Saturday.
De Minaur is aware that the world No. 92 could be a challenging opponent. “Bellucci is having a breakout tournament. Beating Medvedev is a very, very tough task on any court and he’s playing with a lot of confidence,” he said after his own win on Friday.
Tsitsipas had also been weary of the threat the Italian posed. Ahead of their quarter-final, he admitted he’d been keeping an eye on the qualifier when the draw was made. “I have seen him a few times, he plays well,” the world No. 12 said.
“I was surprised that he was in the qualifiers because in my opinion he is at a higher level than them from a tennis point of view. I knew that there would be a good chance of facing him here, I had a qualifier in the first round.”