Chinese rising star Shang Juncheng defeated second seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in straight sets and reached his third tour semifinal in his career at the ATP Chengdu Open on Sunday.

Shang and Bublik met once at the US Open last month when Shang won a thrilling five-set battle that lasted three hours and 34 minutes.

In the first set, Shang was in good shape and won 6-4 smoothly.

In the second set, Bublik used his excellent serving skills to drag the game into a tiebreaker. But Shang won the set at 7-6(8).

"No matter what happens in the semifinals tomorrow, I just need to play to my best level," said Shang.

In another match, Italy's Lorenzo Musetti, the bronze medalist in the men's singles event of the Paris Olympics, defeated French veteran Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to make the semifinals.