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Tennis: Local hope Sonego stuns Rublev in Rome to set up Djokovic semi

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Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/life/05/15/20210515-lorenzo-sonego-rtr.jpg"/><figcaption>Italy&#x27;s Lorenzo Sonego celebrates winning his quarter final match against Russia&#x27;s Andrey Rublev <em>REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Lorenzo Sonego defeated world number seven Russian Andrey Rublev on Saturday, continuing his dream run at the Rome Masters and becoming the first Italian semi-finalist at the event in 14 years with a come-from-behind 3-6 6-4 6-3 win.</p><p>Following his wins over U.S. Open winner Dominic Thiem and former world number six Gael Monfils in previous rounds, the 26-year-old Sonego becomes the first local man in the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 event since Filippo Volandri in 2007.</p><p>&quot;(This is) my favourite tournament in the world. I&#x27;m with my people here,&quot; Sonego said. &quot;I am so happy for this.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/15/21/tennis-djokovic-survives-tsitsipas-scare-to-advance-to-rome-semi-finalshttps://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/15/21/tennis-djokovic-survives-tsitsipas-scare-to-advance-to-rome-semi-finals">Tennis: Djokovic survives Tsitsipas scare to advance to Rome semi-finals</a></li></ul><p>The 33rd-ranked Italian will have loud support from the stands when he returns to the court for his semi-final later on Saturday against top seed Novak Djokovic.</p><p>The Serbian world No. 1 was trailing 6-4 2-1 against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas when the match was halted by rain on Friday but rallied to a 4-6 7-5 7-5 win on Saturday.</p><p>Djokovic&#x27;s match on Friday was suspended twice but he raised his game at crunch moments to twice come back from a break down in the deciding set on his way to the semi-finals for the eighth straight year.</p><p>Second seed Rafa Nadal will compete against big-serving American Reilly Opelka in the other semi-final. <strong>(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Berhampore, India; Editing by Hugh Lawson)</strong></p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1632827" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>Lorenzo Sonego defeated world number seven Russian Andrey Rublev on Saturday, continuing his dream run at the Rome Masters and becoming the first Italian semi-finalist at the event in 14 years with a come-from-behind 3-6 6-4 6-3 win.<br /> </p>

Lorenzo Sonego defeated world number seven Russian Andrey Rublev on Saturday, continuing his dream run at the Rome Masters and becoming the first Italian semi-finalist at the event in 14 years with a come-from-behind 3-6 6-4 6-3 win.