Rafa Jódar overcomes Musetti and reaches the semifinals in Washington

 The Spanish tennis player Rafa Jódar has advanced to the semifinals of the Washington tournament (United States), in the ATP 500 category and played on hard courts, after overcoming the Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals (1-6, 6-1, 6-4), and will play against the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo in his first semifinals of the surface circuit fast.

The Madrid native, current number 24 in the world and who defeated the Frenchman Arthur Fils and the Japanese Kei Nishikori in the previous rounds, needed two hours and one minute to get rid of the 15th world racket, which struck first in the duel by winning the last five games of the opening set.

Despite that, Jódar did not come down and changed the dynamic of the match by breaking the transalpine’s serve in the second game of the second set, before making a 5-0 that would be almost definitive and that would allow him to equalize the contest on his next serve.

In an even third set, in which he did not have to face break points against him, the Madrid native took advantage of one of his two break points in the fifth game to unbalance the match, which finally fell on his side.

“I didn’t start very well, Lorenzo won the first set 6-1. I had to reorganize myself mentally. I think I did very well, especially at the beginning of the second set. I served very well and that gave me the opportunity to win the second and third sets. I am very happy with how I recovered,” he said in statements provided by the ATP.

In this way, Jódar ensured his debut next Monday in the ‘Top 20’ of the ATP rankings, something that only 14 players aged 19 or younger have achieved. In addition, he has options to continue climbing, since he only defends 281 points the rest of the year, all won in 2025 at the ATP Challenger level.

In the semifinals this Sunday, the Madrid native will face the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, who gave the surprise in the quarterfinals by getting rid of the American Ben Shelton (4-6, 7-5, 6-4), number eight in the ATP ranking and second seed in the competition North American.