Tommy Paul explains how his injury earlier this season has actually helped him at the Italian Open

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Tommy Paul explained how an injury earlier in the season helped inspire his Italian Open run.

The American has reached the last four in Rome for the first time in his career following a string of impressive results.

He began the tournament with straight set wins over Aslan Karatsev and Dominik Koepfer before taking out defending champion Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 6-4 in round four.

The 27-year-old backed up this victory by outlasting Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in a captivating two-hour and 43-minute quarter-final.

In just his second clay court tournament of the season, Paul is just two matches away from claiming what would be his first ever title on the dirt.

Tommy Paul explains what has helped him perform well at the Italian Open

Few would have expected Paul to reach the last four of the Italian Open given he just returned from an injury layoff in Madrid two weeks ago.

In March the World Number 16 suffered an ankle injury during his opening match against Martin Damm Jr in Miami while up a set.

This forced him to retire from the contest and he did not play again until he travelled to the Spanish capital over a month later.

Paul put his time on the sidelines to good use as he returned to full fitness and trained for the clay court season, and the results are showing in Rome.

“I had a lot of time to kind of prepare on the clay. It was kind of like starting from scratch,” Paul told reporters. “I started my practices literally standing on one foot… every day doing a little bit more and a little bit more.

“I got really comfortable on the clay. My whole team has kind of tried to get me to not play early in the clay court season. This year I was kind of forced to do it. I’m happy that it happened.”

Who does Tommy Paul play next?

Paul will take on Nicolas Jarry in the Italian Open semi-finals. He is another surprise package at the tournament after he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals.

The pair have played just once before, with the Chilean winning a four set battle at Roland Garros in 2023.

The winner will book a spot in the final against either Alexander Zverev or Alejandro Tabilo, who is having a special run after upsetting Novak Djokovic in round three.

Three of the four semi-finalists are searching for their first ever Masters 1000 title win while Zverev is looking for his second title in the Italian capital after his first triumph in 2017.