MOSCOW, May 4. Russian tennis player Aslan Karatsev after entering the semi-finals of the Masters tournament in Madrid declared that he had returned to the top level.
On Thursday Karatsev defeated Chinese Zhang Zhizhen in the quarterfinal match of the tournament. For the first time in his career, Karatsev reached the semi-finals of the Masters series tournament. For a place in the final, the Russian will compete with the winner of the match between the German Jan-Lennard Struff and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (4th seed).
“I am satisfied with my condition, I returned to the top level. I play well and feel good. Starting from qualification, match after match becomes more and more difficult, so psychologically you need to be on top. The opponent does not distribute points, you need to take them yourself. Now you need to recover well,» Karatsev was quoted as saying by the official website of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
«I started the year in the top 100, then went down in the rankings, losing a few matches. We need to keep going forward. I have a team that always supports me and believes in me,» the tennis player added.
Karatsev, 29, semi-finalist of the Australian Open — 2021, occupies 121st place in the ATP ranking. The highest position of a Russian in the world ranking is 14th place.