Botic van de Zandschulp has made his first ATP semi-final in the last two years after beating Thiago Seyboth Wild in the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 tournament of Kitzbuhel: 7-6 (2), 6-2.
After beating wild card Nicolas Jarry and home hero Filip Misolic, Thiago Seyboth Wild was Van de Zandschulp‘s third opponent on the Austrian gravel. The Brazilian outlasted 17-year-old Justin Engel and the experienced Roberto Bautista Agut en route to the quarter-finals in Kitzbuhel.
Van de Zandschulp, the 103rd-ranked ATP player, got off to a rusty start in the quarter-final when Seyboth Wild broke the Dutchman in his first service game. The third-highest-ranked Dutchman showed resilience by coming back from 40-30 down to re-break Seyboth Wild in the next game.
Van de Zandschulp severely struggled on his second serve – he won just two of his eleven second service points in the first set – but still managed to push Seyboth Wild to the limit by breaking his Brazilian opponent in his last service game of the first set.
Seyboth Wild immediately returned the favour, but could not best Van de Zandschulp in the ensuing tiebreak, losing on two of his first three services en route to a 7-2 loss.
A frustrated Seyboth Wild, who threw his racket to the ground during the first-set tiebreak, was on the verge of breaking Van de Zandschulp early in the second set, but was unable to convert on a 40-0 lead and let the Dutchman win four consecutive points to keep his service game.
Instead, it was Van de Zandschulp who cashed in on a crucial break, going up 4-2 after the Brazilian suffered more material failure as a string of his tennis racket shot loose a second time during the match. Van de Zandschulp held onto his next service game before breaking Seyboth Wild a second-straight time, converting on his third match point to clinch his first ticket to an ATP semi-final since reaching the final in Munich in March 2023.
In the semi-final, Van de Zandschulp will meet top seed Alexander Bublik.
Key match statsFlashscore
Jesper de Jong wasn’t as lucky in Croatia. The Dutchman, who reached his first ATP Tour final in Sweden last weekend, lost in straight sets to Spaniard Carlos Taberner in the quarter-final in Umag: 7-5, 6-3.
De Jong lost a crucial service game late in the first set before fending off three break points in the first game of the second set. After Taberner still managed to break De Jong later, the Spaniard finished the job with a third break in the ninth and final game of the second set.