Pierre-Hugues Herbert (344th) created a surprise by beating Luca Van Assche (70th) in a Franco-French duel 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the quarter-final of the ATP 250 tournament in Metz on Thursday.
Herbert has not played in a semi-final on the ATP circuit for more than two and a half years and the Marseille tournament in March 2021 where he reached the final.
He will be opposed to the Russian Alexander Shevchenko, 22 years old and 63rd in the world, who also created a surprise by beating his compatriot Karen Khachanov (15th), whom he met for the first time, 6-4, 6-4.