Martinez reaches the biggest semi-finals of his career | ATP Tour

Hamburg

Martinez reaches the biggest semi-finals of his career

His rival for a place in the Hamburg final will be Zverev

July 19, 2024

Before 2024, Pedro Martínez had not recorded multiple ATP Tour quarter-final wins in a single season. But this season, the Spaniard has found the greatest effectiveness of his career in this stage. This Friday, he secured his third qualification of the season to the semi-finals of the circuit by beating Francisco Cerúndolo in Hamburg.

The No. 49 in the PIF ATP Rankings won 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 to stay in contention at the Hamburg Open and secure his presence in the biggest semi-finals of his ATP Tour career. He had already been to this stage in 2021 in Kitzbühel, in 2022 in Santiago, and this year in Santiago and Estoril.

For the first time he is in the semi-finals of a tournament other than an ATP 250, and he has managed to do so by beating two top seeds: the Italian Matteo Arnaldi (6) in the first round and Cerúndolo (4) in the quarter-finals. It did not seem so likely that he would prevail against the latter: after entering the Lexus ATP HeadToHead between them 0-1 down, and after losing a first set in which he could barely win 15 points (seven with the serve).

But her reaction in the second set was devastating. Winning the first four games of that set rebuilt her confidence and, from then on, she never let go of her dominance. Losing serve when she was leading 4-0 in the second set and when she was leading 5-2 in the decider did not affect her path to victory, which she sealed after an hour and 56 minutes of play.

This result elevates him to No. 43 in the live rankings and leaves him close to surpassing his personal best in the PIF ATP Rankings, which he set in 2022 when he reached No. 40. One more win would take him to No. 38 in the live rankings, as well as to his fourth final on the tour after those played in Kitzbühel 2021 (finalist), Santiago 2022 (champion) and Estoril 2024 (finalist).

His next opponent will be defending champion Alexander Zverev, who defeated China’s Zhizhen Zhang 6-4, 6-3 to claim his 43rd win of the year. The German is now the player with the most matches won this season, surpassing Italian Jannik Sinner by one.

“I’m very pleased with the level of tennis today,” Zverev said in his post-match interview. “I think it was a big step forward from yesterday, but it was obviously a very different match as well. I’m happy to be in the semi-finals, but I don’t want to stop here, I want to continue and I hope I can defend my title here in Hamburg.”