Who believes in it?

What if Sachko pulled a Vacherot—he's playing way better than usual and maybe he can go win the title?

We're not there at all, but in principle we know it's possible if Vacherot did it; in the end Sachko is having a crazy week and he obviously believes, so you never know. He pulled through against Tabur tonight but man was it tough—I don't even know how he won that third set, he was walking a tightrope. But like since the start of the week, he bent without breaking; after saving numerous break points he turned killer to take it. A hard-fought win, but not undeserved either; he fights well in addition to doing what needs to be done in play. Physically, though, I think it's starting to take a toll; the long rallies in the last set weren't great. And now he has to immediately turn around against Tien—between a lightning-fast recovery and getting to grips with a new playing style, he's got work to do tomorrow morning before his semi. On Tien's side, there's a great win over Berrettini after two really straightforward early rounds. The American handled the match-up well and was very clinical too—the magic formula to get through—and with that level of play plus his fresh legs, I honestly don't see how Sachko gets out of this tomorrow. He took a lot of risks on return to avoid long rallies and Tabur made a lot of errors for his profile; I find it hard to imagine Tien giving away that much from the baseline. We've seen all week that such a ranking gap doesn't mean anything anymore, but it's really the level difference and the match-up that worry me for Sachko—I think this is where the fairytale ends.