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Robin Haase dared to dream and delivered on Friday when he booked a spot in the Coupe Rogers semi-finals, his first at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.
Haase extended his perfect record to 5-0 against Argentinean Diego Schwartzman in a hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 quarter-final victory over two hours and four minutes.
"I'm really happy," said Haase. "I played a lot of good matches, especially yesterday against [Grigor] Dimitrov. It's tough to come back and play that same level. I didn't, but I managed to win because I kept fighting. You could see that we were both mentally... It took a lot out of us. We beat good guys. We've been playing really well. Then to do it on this stage again for your first semis, it's not easy."
The Dutchman, competing at his 35th tournament at the Masters 1000 level, will next face Swiss second seed and two-time former champion Roger Federer or No. 12 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. Haase's previous best result had been one quarter-final exit at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Djokovic).
Haase, reflecting on his career, admitted, "I wasn't the player I was before my injury. I was not as fast. I was insecure. I had a lot of problems with other injuries after. Then this kind of eats you up inside mentally. It drains you because you know you can do better, but actually your own body is not letting you. That took me, honestly, a couple of years to get more calm in my head, that I have to deal with it.
"I've been working on it a lot in the past few years. I started to believe more and more again. My game is better. Then I started this year winning back-to-back matches against really good players. Then you're thinking, 'Okay, it might happen again.' That it happens, it's just awesome."

Schwartzman played aggressively from the outset, pouncing on any half chance in the opener, but lapses in concentration coupled with tiredness – after three straight three-setters – let Haase back into the match. While Haase tightened up and let slip a 3-0 lead in the decider, from 3-3 he lost only six points for his 24th match win of the year.
“The week for me was very good, but I am now disappointed as I don’t think I played well in the second and third sets,” Schwartzman told ATPWorldTour.com. “I didn’t play too well from the baseline, but Haase served better to get back into the match."

Dutchman enjoying fine finish to 2017
Robin Haase has made a flying start to the Rolex Paris Masters. After dismissing Steve Johnson for the loss of just three games in the first round in the French capital, the Dutchman ousted fourth seed Alexander Zverev 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the third round.
The 30-year-old Haase, who reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final in the summer in Montreal (l. to Federer), overcame the 20-year-old Zverev in one hour and 33 minutes. The right-hander won 77 per cent of his service points and broke Zverev four times as he set up a clash with either Joao Sousa or Nitto ATP Finals contender Juan Martin del Potro.
Zverev will look to cap his standout season in style when he makes his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals in London, beginning 12 November. The German has won two Masters 1000 crowns this season, in Rome and Montreal, and also lifted trophies in Montpellier, Munich and Washington.
Ninth-seeded American John Isner battled hard to keep alive his slim chances of qualifying for next month’s season finale by hitting 29 aces in beating Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-6(2), 6-7(11), 6-3 over two hours and 35 minutes. Isner could not convert match point opportunities on his serve at 6/5, 8/7 and 10/9 in the second set tie-break. Schwartzman ends the best season of his career with a 39-28 match record. Isner will now face sixth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, a first-time Nitto ATP Finals qualifier this year, or Richard Gasquet of France.
In action later on, Rafael Nadal will clinch the year-end No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings with victory over Hyeon Chung, while London contenders Tsonga, Goffin, Anderson and del Potro are all in the hunt for crucial points.

Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop are doubles champions once again this season, claiming a 5-7, 6-4, 10-4 victory over Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya at the DIEMA XTRA Sofia Open.
The Dutchmen, who earlier this season claimed their first title together in Pune (d. Herbert/Simon), overcame their opponents in just one hour, 13 minutes. Despite winning the same amount of total points as Mektic and Peya, Haase and Middelkoop were better in the bigger moments, saving seven of nine break points faced and converting on two of five break points themselves.

For Haase, the title in Sofia marks his fourth ATP World Tour doubles championship; for Middelkoop, his sixth. Last season, the team reached the quarter-finals of the US Open doubles tournament, which was the first Grand Slam event in their partnership.
The Dutchmen now head to their home tournament in Rotterdam as wild cards, where they will look to continue their winning form as they take on fellow wild cards Jasper Smit and Jesse Timmermans in the first round.
Mektic and Peya will have to wait a little longer to claim their first title as a team, although both have had significant success in earlier partnerships. Peya is a former World No. 3 in the ATP Doubles Rankings, while his Croatian partner claimed his first two ATP World Tour doubles crowns last season.

Dutchman pursuing first title since 2012

Robin Haase ousted defending champion Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6(6) at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag on Friday to reach his second tour-level semi-final of the season.

The sixth seed won 81 per cent of first-serve points and saved six of the seven break points he faced to defeat the #NextGenATP Russian, who was competing in his first event since April due to a lower-back stress fracture. Haase, the World No. 38, is pursuing his first ATP World Tour title since the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel six years ago. The Dutch No. 1’s only other triumph came at the same tournament in 2011.

Next, the 31-year-old will face Argentine Guido Pella, who beat Serbian Dusan Lajovic 7-6(3), 7-5 in one hour, 41 minutes. Pella is fresh off of a third-round appearance at Wimbledon, where he came from two sets down to defeat Marin Cilic.

In the other semi-final, qualifier Marco Trungelliti defeated Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-1, 6-4 in one hour, 13 minutes to make his maiden tour-level semi-final. Before arriving in Croatia, the Argentine had never advanced to the quarter-finals at an ATP World Tour event.

Trungelliti will face the winner Italian Marco Cecchinato, who ousted Serbian Laslo Djere 6-4, 6-1 in one hour, 22 minutes. This year's Gazprom Hungarian Open winner and Roland Garros semi-finalist is into his fourth tour-level semi-final of the season. Entering the 2018 season, he had just four tour-level match wins.

Robin Haase saw his quest for a sixth ATP World Tour singles final come to a close on Saturday in Umag. But, three hours later, the 31-year-old would not falter in his bid for the doubles title.

Teaming with countryman Matwe Middelkoop, the Dutch duo streaked to the crown at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag. They completed a perfect run to the title, not dropping a set all week to secure their third victory as a team this year.

"Obviously when you win a tournament, the feelings are always the best," said Middelkoop. "It's my first time here and I've heard stories that it's really nice. I think that it's overwhelming. Really nice hotel, many people coming. I couldn't believe that it was packed on a Monday and Tuesday. Also, the area feels like a vacation, but professional at the same time. It's the best of both worlds and a pleasure to come here. I'll be back."

Haase and Middelkoop ousted Czech tandem Jiri Vesely and Roman Jebavy 6-4, 6-4 in just 62 minutes. The second seeds are undefeated in ATP World Tour doubles finals in 2018, having also triumphed on the outdoor hard courts of Pune in January and indoor hard courts of Sofia a month later.

Haase, who fell in three sets to Guido Pella earlier in the day in the singles semi-finals, added a fifth individual doubles title. Middelkoop, meanwhile, is now a seven-time titlist.

"It was a great week, but I'm disappointed in today's singles," Haase added. "I played too passive. In the third set, it's about who gets the first initiative. He did that and it's the way it is. In the doubles, I wasn't mentally ready to compete, but Matwe had the positive energy and we got into the match. It was a deserved victory. I've been sick all week, which was tiring for me, but it's the way it is."

The Dutchmen, who also defeated Jebavy and Vesely en route to the Pune title, split €27,170 in prize money and 250 ATP Doubles Rankings points. Moreover, they move into the Top 20 in the ATP Doubles Race To London.

Did You Know?
Middelkoop has competed in six ATP World Tour doubles finals with four different partners this year. He also finished runner-up with Andres Molteni in Budapest, with Roman Jebavy in Lyon and with Sander Arends in Antalya.

Haase reaches his third Masters 1000 QF
Having taken the home Canadian crowd largely out of the match, Robin Haase just needed to hold his nerves, and he did, ensuring the Toronto faithful of a disappointing outcome: There will be no repeat of Denis Shapovalov's charming Rogers Cup semi-final run of a year ago.

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The veteran Dutchman was steady when Shapovalov was erratic, benefitting from 42 Shapovalov unforced errors, including 24 from his forehand, to advance to the quarter-finals at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the second consecutive year 7-5, 6-2.

“Robin did a good job today of really playing with my game, and he played me really smart today,” said Shapovalov. “He was changing the pace a lot and playing me pretty slow, actually… It's been a really good week. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I really feel like I've found my game from a couple of months ago.”

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Haase made the Rogers Cup semi-finals a year ago (l. to Federer), and he'll face Russian Karen Khachanov with a return trip on the line. The 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier beat eighth seed John Isner 7-6(5), 7-6(1) to improve to 2-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against the No. 1 American. Khachanov lost only 11 points on serve (84 per cent; 58/69), and neither player was broken in the battle of big men.

For Haase, there must be something about the Great White North. In his 14 years on the ATP World Tour, he's reached three Masters 1000 quarter-finals, and two have come in Canada: 2017 Montreal and 2018 Toronto.

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He did just enough to reach his fifth quarter-final of 2018, making Shapovalov hit one more shot again and again. The #NextGenATP Canadian had a chance to rally his home supporters at the start, leading 1-0, 0/40 on Haase's serve.

But Haase saved all four break points and withstood Shapovalov's power. Haase served out the third-rounder to 30 when the Canadian pushed a backhand wide.