MONTE CARLO (Reuters) – Defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas confirmed no indicators of fatigue following Friday’s marathon battle as he eased previous German Alexander Zverev 6-4 6-2 to reach the Monte Carlo Masters final on Saturday.
Tsitsipas and Zverev had each survived three-hour tussles on Friday to reach the final 4 however it was the Greek third seed who appeared to have made a rapid restoration as he tormented a torpid Zverev with a barrage of baseline winners.
Tsitsipas, who has now gained all three of his claycourt matches in opposition to Zverev, will tackle shock finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Sunday’s showdown.
The Spaniard, who will contest his first singles final on the ATP tour, beat Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-7(2) 6-3 in a see-saw conflict earlier on Saturday.
All eyes, nevertheless, had been on the Tsitsipas v Zverev conflict.
Tsitsipas, final yr’s French Open runner-up, was twice up a break within the opening set however allowed Zverev to steal his serve again within the third and ninth video games.
The Greek finally sealed the set on the German’s serve with an ideal slice.
Tsitsipas dominated the second set from the baseline and grabbed a decisive break to transfer 4-2 up when Zverev’s forehand sailed lengthy.
He gained the next recreation to love earlier than breaking once more with a blistering passing shot to wrap up the match in simply 75 minutes.
The first semi was a a lot tighter affair.
Davidovich Fokina, whose finest performances are two Challengers titles in 2019, gained 5 of his six break factors whereas Dimitrov failed to convert seven of his 10 alternatives as he arrange a replay of final yr’s quarter-final within the principality.
A Dimitrov double fault gave the 22-year-old Davidovich Fokina the primary break of the match within the third recreation and the Spaniard held serve to bag the opening set.
The Bulgarian was extra exact early within the second set to open a 2-0 lead however he rapidly misplaced his focus once more as his opponent gained 4 video games in a row to transfer nearer to a straight-set victory.
Serving for the match at 5-3, although, he crumbled beneath stress and allowed Dimitrov again into the competition, with the Bulgarian profitable the tiebreak simply.
The decider was another take a look at of nerves as Dimitrov collapsed after profitable the primary two video games, dropping 5 in a row to put Davidovich Fokina on the point of victory once more.
This time, the Spaniard stored his composure and prevailed on his second match level.
(Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar)
