Halys edges out Nardi in a nail-biter to reach the semifinals in Dubai
Following Félix Auger-Aliassime's qualification, the second quarter-final of the day took place on the center court of the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai.
As the last Frenchman standing in the main draw, Quentin Halys faced Luca Nardi, an Italian lucky loser who took advantage of Jack Draper's withdrawal to get a second chance to shine in the tournament.
Halys, ranked 77th in the world, had a completely missed start to the match, failing to create any break points in the first set.
Without too much effort, the Italian took the lead. But with his back against the wall, Halys responded perfectly. After conceding an early break in the second set, he won three consecutive games, fully getting back into the match.
Quite logically, he forced a decisive third set between the two men.
The third set, however, was a massive battle. Neither returner managed to get the upper hand on the servers, even though both men had opportunities, notably Halys.
At 5-5, he missed two consecutive break points at 15-40 but managed to hold his nerve to push into a decisive tiebreak in his next service game.
The tiebreak itself was breathless and undecided until the last point. No mini-breaks occurred until 6 points to 5.
On his first match point, Halys, who saw his drop shot clip the line on the previous point to the dismay of his opponent, watched as Nardi's forehand went wide.
Quentin Halys therefore triumphs at the end of the suspense (2-6, 6-3, 7-6) and continues his impressive run in Dubai. After eliminating Yasutaka Uchiyama (6-3, 7-6) and then Pavel Kotov (7-6, 7-5) in the qualifiers, Halys went on to defeat the first top 10 player of his career by overcoming Andrey Rublev (3-6, 6-4, 7-6) and Roberto Bautista Agut (7-6, 6-4) before beating Nardi.
In the semifinals, Quentin Halys will face Félix Auger-Aliassime. The two have faced each other twice before, with the Canadian winning both matches.
In Doha last week, the world's 21st ranked player had the last word after a third set tiebreak. Meanwhile, Halys is guaranteed to enter the top 60 for the first time in his career next Monday.
