World No. 215 Shintaro Mochizuki advanced to the semifinals of tennis’ Japan Open on Friday, defeating 41st-ranked Australian Alexiei Popyrin.

A day after he came from a set down to defeat top seed Taylor Fritz at Tokyo’s Ariake Colosseum, Mochizuki took down Popyrin 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 in their Day 5 quarterfinal of the ATP 500 event.

After two service breaks to start the match, both players held serve until Mochizuki broke in the 12th game to take the set. The Japanese was broken to open the second, however, and never caught up.

With the 24-year-old Popyrin serving to send the match to a decisive third-set tie-break, Mochizuki took the last three points for a match-winning service break.

The victory for the 20-year-old Mochizuki, the 2019 Wimbledon junior singles champion, sends him into a semifinal against 50th-ranked Russian Aslan Karatsev.

Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki in action against Alexiei Popyrin of Australia in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open tennis tournament at Tokyo’s Ariake Colosseum on Oct. 20, 2023.(Kyodo)

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