World stunned as unknown tennis star does the unthinkable

Aslan Karatsev made more money winning one match than he has in his entire eight-year professional career as the Russian stunned tennis.

Aslan Karatsev has emerged from the tennis wilderness.

Do you know who Aslan Karatsev is now?

The unseeded Russian tennis star has become the Cinderella story of this year’s Australian Open, taking everyone by surprise as he rewrote the history books by storming into the semi-finals at Melbourne Park.

Earlier today world No. 200 Sergiy Stakhovsky started a social media spat when he targeted tennis commentator Nick McCarvel on Twitter, after the popular media member admitted he had never heard of Karatsev before this tournament.

You could hardly blame him. After all, the 27-year-old had never even played in a grand slam until last week.

But now he’s the name on everyone’s lips after beating an injured Grigor Dimitrov to book his spot in the final four in his maiden appearance at a major.

Karatsev, who entered the Australian Open ranked 114 in the world, is now up to 42 — that’s higher than Nick Kyrgios — and has guaranteed himself an $850,000 payday in prizemoney.

Remarkably, before this tournament, he had earnt just under $620,000 in prizemoney across his eight-year professional career. He more than doubled that with his 2-6 6-4 6-1 6-2 victory over Dimitrov in two hours and 32 minutes.

Karatsev awaits the winner of Novak Djokovic’s quarterfinal against Alexander Zverev, where he’ll be eyeing off an even bigger windfall and maybe even some silverware.

Karatsev is on the charge.

KARATSEV REWRITES THE RECORD BOOKS

Among his slew of achievements, Karatsev has become:

— The first player ever to make the semi-finals on grand slam debut

— The lowest ranked male player to reach the Australian Open semi-finals since Patrick McEnroe in 1991

— The lowest ranked male to reach a grand slam semi-final since Goran Ivanisevic (125) at Wimbledon in 2001

— The fifth male qualifier to reach the singles semi-finals of a grand slam in the Open Era

— The first male qualifier to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open since 1977

— The second ever qualifier to reach the Australian Open semi-finals

— The first man to reach the semi-finals on his Australian Open debut since 1998

‘TOTALLY NUTS’: TENNIS FANS STUNNED

Fans watching on as Karatsev upset Dimitrov could barely believe their eyes.

Author Ashlee Vance tweeted: “Totally nuts story at the Australian Open. Aslan Karatsev just made the semi-finals. He’s 27. It’s his first grand slam ever. He had to play a qualifying tournament to even get in.”

Jill Martin of CNN Sports wrote: “What an unbelievable run for Karatsev. So many firsts.”

D’Arcy Maine called it “unreal” while Gaurav Kalra said on social media the crazy development was “unbelievable”.

Eric Hubbs added: “Holy moly! Russian journeyman Aslan Karatsev has reached the semis of the Aussie Open. Not only is this his first ever grand slam main draw, but he just doubled his career earnings.”

Can he go all the way?

HOW KARATSEV WENT FURTHER THAN ANYONE EXPECTED

Dimitrov started grimacing with pain from late in the third set. He called for a medical time-out and was heard on the court microphone saying he had “spasms”, with a trainer giving him treatment to his lower back.

The 18th seed gamely returned but his movement was hampered as she struggled to serve and chase down returns.

“Unbelievable feeling, first time in semis. Incredible,” said Karatsev. “It was tough at the beginning for me to hold my nerves, but I tried to find a way to play.”

A virtual unknown before the tournament started, Karatsev has spent the bulk of his professional career fighting for points on the ATP Challenger Tour. But he has played the tournament of his life in Melbourne, blitzing eighth seed Diego Schwartzmann and 20th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on his way to meeting Dimitrov.

Dimitrov served to love to open proceedings before Karatsev fixed his radar and broke for 2-1 when the Bulgarian fluffed a forehand.

But the advantage only lasted until the next game when Dimitrov levelled then broke again for 4-2, winning five games in a row to take the opening set in just 33 minutes.

The Russian was guilty of too many loose shots and had trouble landing his forehands. But he is a fighter and refused to go quietly, breaking for a 3-2 lead in the second on the back of a wild Dimitrov volley then breaking again to unexpectedly secure the second set.

His persistence began irritating Dimitrov, who started muttering to himself as frustrations crept in and he went 3-1 down in the third set.

The Bulgarian then began struggling as the set wore on and was barely able to serve at 1-5 before taking the medical time-out.

The 29-year-old returned but never looked like getting back in the match.

There was no miraculous recovery for Grigor Dimitrov.

With AFP