Karatsev, the Russian no one saw coming

Aslan Karatsev is a bit like a modern male Cinderella tale. He was not at all expected at the grand ball of this Australian Open, his very first, but the alignment of the planets has allowed the 27-year-old Russian stranger to be one of the last four elected who can still embrace the Cup this Sunday! Thursday, he has an appointment with Novak Djokovic who will not really be his prince charming …

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En continuing his fairy tale which has just seen him beat Diego Schwartzman (9th), Felix Auger-Aliassime (19th) and, this Tuesday, a Grigor Dimitrov (21st) also hit on the back, Aslan Karatsev (114th) returned to tennis Belgian almost 24 years ago. At the time when Filip Dewulf had managed to reach the semi-final of Roland-Garros 1997 (finally beaten by Gustavo Kuerten), coming from the qualifiers. All those who lived this moment still remember it, so much the exploit had shaken Belgium, of the quidam to the royal family! We had not yet lived the dream periods of Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. A feat still unequaled in Paris!

At the level of the Grand Slams, Aslan Karatsev is also only the 5th player to achieve this performance, after John McEnroe at Wimbledon 1977, Bob Giltinan at the Australian Open 1997, Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon 2000 and… so Filip Dewulf.

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