Tennis

Shintaro Mochizuki Continues Dream Run in Tokyo

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Shintaro Mochizuki returns a shot during a quarterfinal at the Japan Open in Tokyo on Friday.

Field Level Media / Reuters

13:28 JST, October 21, 2023

Shintaro Mochizuki continued his dream run at home Friday with a 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 quarterfinal victory over Australia’s Alexei Popyrin at the Japan Open in Tokyo.

The 20-year-old Mochizuki, ranked No. 215 in the world, had never won an ATP Tour match before this week but will face Russia’s Aslan Karatsev in the semifinals of the ATP 500 event. Mochizuki won 25 of 32 points at the net, fired 23 forehand winners and withstood 21 aces from Popyrin.

Karatsev reached the final quartet with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 4 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia.

The other semifinal is an all-American affair between Ben Shelton and qualifier Marcos Giron. Shelton defeated fifth-seeded compatriot Tommy Paul 7-6 (4), 6-3, and Giron upended No. 8 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 6-1, 6-4.