French Open: 10 things you need to know about Djokovic-slayer Marco Cecchinato

The 25-year-old Italian Marco Cecchinato made headlines after stunning Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals at the French Open on Tuesday.
Italy's Marco Cecchinato celebrates winning the second set against Serbia's Novak Djokovic during their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris. | AP
Italy's Marco Cecchinato celebrates winning the second set against Serbia's Novak Djokovic during their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris. | AP

The 25-year-old Italian Marco Cecchinato made headlines after stunning Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals at the French Open on Tuesday. On Friday Djokovic-slayer is all set to take on Austria's Dominic Thiem for a spot in the final on Sunday. Here are 10 things you need to know about the 'Djokovic-slayer'.

Match-fixing disgrace:

In 2016, Marco Cecchinato served an 18-months suspension by the Federation of Italian Tennis for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal at a challenger event in Morocco. He was also fined 40,000 Euro to become the highest ranked tennis player ever to be suspended for match-fixing. He challenged the verdict following which his ban was reduced to 12 months, and to be fully lifted later. Cecchinato never admitted to any role in the scandal and has always maintained his innocence.

First Grand Slam victory:

Cecchinato had never won a Grand Slam match before he beat Romania's Marius Copil in the first round of French Open 2018. He beat his opponent 2-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-2, 10-8.

First Italian to reach Grand Slam semis:

He is the first Italian to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam in 40 years. Corrado Barazzutti achieved the feet by entering the Roland Garros semifinals in 1978. 

Lowest-ranking player to reach French Open semis:  

Ranked 72, Cecchinato is the lowest-ranked player to reach the semis of French Open since 1999 - when Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine went on to reach the finals, only to be defeated by Andre Agassi. He is also the lowest ranked semifinalist in any majors since the Wimbledon 2006. 

Man of Upsets:

On his way to the semi-finals, he has already beaten two players among the top 10 seeds at Roland Garros. He beat no. 10 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the round of 32 and no. 8 David Goffin in the fourth round. He now faces Dominic Thiem who is seeded no. 7 in the semis.

Major Debut:

The Palermo born player made his grand slam debut by qualifying for the main draw at the US Open in 2015, only to be beaten by American Mardy Fish. He made his ATP Masters debut at Rome in 2014 as a wildcard where he lost in the first round to Igor Sijsling of Netherlands.

Failures at Grand Slams:

Cecchinato did not qualify for US Open 2017 and Australian Open 2018. The last Grand Slam tournament he played was at Wimbledon last year, where he was knocked out by Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Wimbledon Seeding:

He is most likely to be seeded in the upcoming Wimbledon this year as he is set to enter the top-30 in the ATP rankings to be released next week. 

Maiden ATP title:

He won his first ATP title in April 2018 at the Hungary Open in Budapest, beating John Millman of Australia in the summit clash.  He came into the tournament as a lucky loser after he lost the final match of the qualifying round. Cecchinato is also the first player from the Italian island of Sicily to win an ATP title. 

Favourites:

His favourite surface is clay and idolised Russian Marat Safin growing up. He loves football and supports the Italian Serie A side AC Milan.

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