Tabilo, the first to qualify for the quarter-finals in Rome!

Alejandro Tabilo is writing a small part of Chilean tennis history. The Chilean, ranked 32nd in the world, is hungry for success in Rome. Winner of the Aix-en-Provence tournament just over a week ago, the 26-year-old is shining in Italy. A stunning 6-2, 6-3 winner over Novak Djokovic in the third round, Tabilo made the most of his feat by defeating Karen Khachanov on Tuesday (7-6, 7-6 in 2h31).

An excellent clay-court player, Alejandro Tabilo is perhaps in the process of changing category. Faced with an ever-solid Karen Khachanov, the left-hander held his nerve to win two hard-fought decisive games. Resisting the Russian's sledgehammer blows (28 winners, 7 aces), the rising star of South American tennis once again produced a top-class performance to qualify (33 winners, 18 unforced errors, 8 aces).

Saving two set points before concluding, the 1.88m player, who is mentally very solid, continued on his Roman path. Highly confident, he will be the favorite in his quarter-final match against the winner of the match between Thiago Monteiro and Zhizhen Zhang.