Rafa Jódar has reached the semifinals of the Washington Open, a 500-category event, after coming from behind to defeat Italian Lorenzo Musetti 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 59 minutes. The win guarantees the Madrid native will enter the ATP top 20 for the first time in his career when the rankings update on Monday, rising to at least position 19. His previous best ranking was 23.
Jódar will next face Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, ranked 30th, in the semifinals. The two have met once before, with Tabilo winning in the first round of the most recent Indian Wells. Washington will be Jódar’s third career semifinal on tour and his first on hard court, following runs in Marrakech, where he won the title, and Barcelona in April, both on clay.
The opening set was difficult for Jódar. He dropped his serve in the fourth game after a double fault on a break point, despite having saved a 0-40 deficit. Musetti consolidated the advantage and broke again, taking the set 6-1.
Jódar recovered emphatically in the second set, breaking Musetti’s serve on a fourth opportunity to go up 4-0 and level the match 6-1. Musetti landed only 44 percent of first serves and committed six double faults in the set.
In the deciding third set, Jódar broke in the fifth game to go 4-2 and held firm from there, closing out the match 6-4 with a love game.
The victory was Jódar’s second over a top-20 opponent, following a win over Alex de Minaur in Madrid, giving him a 2-5 record against that group.
After the match, Jódar said there is still much for him to learn on tour, noting that things have been moving very fast in his first year and that much improvement lies ahead. He added that all these tournaments and matches help him get better, including when things do not go well. On the ranking milestone, he said it was somewhat secondary and that it is not good to be thinking about it constantly.
