Kamil Majchrzak knocks out second seed Lorenzo Musetti from Tata Open, Jiri Vesely also bows out

Kamil Majchrzak pulled off the second big upset of the tournament by knocking second seed Lorenzo Musetti out of Tata Open Maharashtra while talented Emil Ruusuvuori sent packing defending champion Jiri Vesely here on Friday. Returning extremely well and using the drop shots quite effectively, the 95th ranked Polish player eked out a 6-2 7-6(5) 6-4 win over the world number 66 in two hours and 13 minutes to advance to the semifinals. The top seed and world number 15 Aslan Karatsev has already exited the event after a loss in the second round at the hands of qualifier Elias Ymer.

After his match, Majchrzak revealed that he developed the habit of playing drop shots in his early tennis days. "I like to play drop shots since childhood. I used to play to finish points but on the Tour I can't do it, I need a follow-up shot for winner," said the 26-year-old Majchrzak, who is coached by Sweden's Joakim Nystrom, a 13-time winner on the Tour.

Majchrzak will now clash with Finland's 22-year-old Ruusuvuori, who shocked the title holder from Czech Republic 6-3 6-4 in his quarterfinal. While the Finnish served and returned with authority, Vesely struggled for accuracy. It was Ruusuvuori's second win over the Czech having beaten him in Antalya, Turkey in 2021.

Meanwhile, Musetti rued the missed chances against Majchrzak. "He was serving really good. I am very upset.

It was close, I won a very great second set and was leading the third. I could win, I have that feeling. I am sad.

I will try to be better next week," a dejected Musetti said. "He started to play very aggressive. In final game he was 15-40 but served very well.

I could do nothing. I had chances but that is tennis. I learnt a lot from this match." Talking about the