Shapavalov and Carreno-Busta standout tie of semi-finals at Chengdu Open 2019

Shapavalov will be playing in his third ATP Tour semi-final of the year and this further improves his chances of making the Next Gen ATP Finals in November.

He had a tricky test though en route; seeing off the in-form Egor Gerasimov of Belarus in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory in one hour and 38 minutes. Gerasimov had picked up the scalp of John Isner in the Quarter-Finals on Thursday.

The Canadian as usual was brilliant on the serving; hitting nine aces and 85 per cent of first service points which allowed him to record his 25th match win of the season. He will now take on Carreno-Busta; who saw off Cristian Garin of Chile in a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

Shapovalov beat Carreno-Busta 6-3, 7-6 in May in Rome; so has a recent victory over him and so will it be repeat or revenge?

In the other semi-final, Alexander Bublik saved two match points at the Chengdu Open to advance to his second semi-final of his career on the ATP Tour.

He hit a classy 35 aces to beat fourth-seed Grigor Dimitrov 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 and it denied him a 300th match win as a result.

He saved two match points in the second set tiebreak. Bublik went 4-1 up in the next set but Dimitrov still came back and saved one match point but then he claimed it in a tie-break.

He will take on lucky loser Lloyd Harris who himself was class on the aces hitting 27 and hitting 53 of 61 first-service points in winning 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 who moved through after a run which included losing to Bradley Klahn originally in qualifying.