Spain’s Rafael Jodar continued to rise in status as he bested Arthur Fils by 7-6(5), 6-3 at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Montreal on Tuesday. Jodar had a comfortable 4-1 lead against Fils in the opening set but the latter bounced back to make it 5-4.

However, the 19-year-old won the tiebreaker and then got a break in the third game of the second set with a fine backhand volley to leave Frenchman in frustration, who broke his racquet after conceding the early break.

Jodar lost his early break advantage however he was able to bounce back and delivered in crunch situation.

With this win one-hour, 42-minute win, Jodar become the first man born in 2006 or later to reach the last four at a Masters 1000 event.

“I knew that I was doing things right,” said Jodar, when asked how he had retained his composure after losing his early lead. “I think he played a good game when he broke my serve in the fourth game of the second set. I was just trying to [play] my game and see what happened. That worked perfectly today, and I stayed very calm during those important pressure moments of the match.

“It wasn’t going to be easy, and I knew that even going a set and a break up. The match was not finished, because Arthur always gives his best until the finish.”

Jodar will next face USA’s Brandon Nakashima in the semifinal clash.

On the other hand, Nakashima went past 19th seed Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-3.

“Super happy with making my first semi-final,” Nakashima said in his post-match press conference. “It was a goal of mine at the beginning of the year to try to do well at one of these Masters 1000s tournaments. So to be able to do it the for first time here is really special.”