PREVIEW | 2023 Japan Open Semi-Finals featuring SHELTON v GIRON and MOCHIZUKI v KARATSEV

The semi-finals of the Kinoshita Group Japan Open will take place at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo on Saturday, October 21. Here is our preview of the matches at the ATP 500 tournament, with Ben Shelton set to face Marcos Giron while Shintaro Mochizuki takes on Aslan Karatsev.

Firstly, World No. 19 Shelton will play against his compatriot Giron. The latter is the highest-ranked player left in the tournament after all of the seeded players fell in previous rounds. Shelton has endured some tough battles so far, fighting back from a set down against both Taro Daniel and Jordan Thompson. However, he pulled off a straight-sets win against fifth seed Tommy Paul to reach the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Giron made it through qualifiers before surviving a tight three-set thriller against home player Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round. After this, he breezed past World No. 8 Casper Ruud and eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets.

The two Americans have met once before, with Giron leading their head-to-head after he ousted Shelton 6-4, 6-4, at the Delray Beach Open in February of this year.

Shelton will be aiming to dominate with his powerful serve and big hitting, so Giron will need to maintain his solid first serve if he wants to stand a chance against the 21-year-old.

After this, wildcard home player Mochizuki will take on the World No. 50 Karatsev. The former has had a dream run at the tournament so far, achieving his first ATP Tour-level win in the first round against Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Since then, the 20-year-old has displayed a lot of talent and determination to overcome a three-set battle with defending champion and Top 10 player Taylor Fritz before doing the same against Alexei Popyrin.

Karatsev has also pulled off some surprise wins at the event, downing the defending runner-up Frances Tiafoe in the opening round before soaring past Zhizhen Zhang and World No. 13 Alex de Minaur. He is also the only player left in the draw to have not yet dropped a set at the tournament.

While Mochizuki will have the momentum of the home crowd which seems to have helped him so far, Karatsev's raw baseline power, cleaner record, and superior experience at this level (including three ATP titles) is expected to see him through to the final. However, Mochizuki has already proven that anything can happen at the Japan Open in Tokyo.