Next Generation star Alexander Zverev saw off Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to advance to the final of the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur on Friday. The 19-year-old Zverev won only two more points than his opponent (95-93), but prevailed in two hours and 14 minutes to reach his first ATP World Tour final after losing in his first four semi-final appearances.

“I am very tired, but very proud to be in the final,” the 2015 Emirates ATP Star of Tomorrow award recipient said. “Joao came back strongly in the second set and I had to step up my game in the third.”

Zverev was up a set and a break at 6-4, 1-0, but dropped serve three times in the second set to force a decider. In the third set, the 6’6” Hamburg native rediscovered his serving rhythm, landing 66 per cent of first serves and saving four break points to secure his 21st tour-level win of the year.

Zverev’s final opponent will be one of his best friends on the ATP World Tour: top seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian, second only to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in matches won this year, notched his 35th win of 2016 by routing Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour. Thiem only lost two first-serve points in the match and went 5-for-13 on break point opportunities.

“I’ve played two tough matches against him before, but they were both on hard court. Maybe he prefers hard courts and I prefer clay. That’s why it was a bit easier,” Thiem said. “I like the conditions here, and I’ve been feeling better than in previous weeks.”

Thiem and Zverev’s only previous tour-level meeting came at the BMW Open by FWU AG in Munich a few weeks ago. The Austrian prevailed 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Thiem won his maiden title in Nice last year and will try to secure his third title of the season (Acapulco and Buenos Aires).

“It’s our second match in three weeks,” Thiem said. “In Munich, we already knew that we were going to play against each other many more times. Hopefully he’ll be a bit tired from all the tough matches he’s played. But he’ll put all his energy into it and I expect a great match tomorrow.”

Top Seeds To Clash For Doubles Title

Top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah downed third seeds Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky 6-2, 6-3 to set up a final against second seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus. Cabal/Farah fired six aces, saved all three break points faced and claimed the win in exactly 60 minutes. The Colombians will play for their third team title of 2016, all on clay (Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires).

Andy Murray is seeded second this year at Roland Garros and, despite a potential semi-final clash with defending champion Stan Wawrinka, his opening match-up is still in question as he awaits to find out which qualifier he will face.

“It’s only two days out from the start of the tournament and I don’t know who I’m playing against yet,” said Murray, who is bidding to win his third Grand Slam title (US Open 2012, Wimbledon 2013). “You don’t have as much time to start preparing for it, and that’s what makes it tricky.”

The Scot could meet No. 15 seed John Isner or No.19 seed Benoit Paire in the fourth round and is projected to face fifth seed Kei Nishikori in the last eight. Last year, Murray pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets in the semi-finals, but will not face the World No.1 until the finals this year, should they both advance.

Murray is fresh off of claiming his third ATP World Tour clay-court title, defeating Djokovic in the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. Just before the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, Murray announced he was ending his partnership with coach Amelie Mauresmo. For now, the spot on his team will continue to be filled by Jamie Delgado, who formerly coached Gilles Muller, and the Scot says he’s pleased with how things are going so far.

“With the way that everything went in Rome and Madrid, things obviously are going well just now, so no need to rush into anything,” said Murray. “I’m happy with the work I have done with Jamie so far.

“He’s pretty calm. He’s a relaxed guy. He’s a good coach. I enjoy working with him, and [he’s] had good results too with Gilles Muller, and we started well.”

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Day 5 of qualifying at Roland Garros saw former Top 10 player Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic turn back the clock to win his final-round qualifying match on Friday, while two other players achieved their dreams of making it to the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time.

No. 20 seed Stepanek, the oldest player in the draw at age 37, recorded a convincing win over No. 2 seed and #NextGen star Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, 6-3, 6-2. The Czech player fired eight aces and saved all four break points against him in the match. Stepanek is now set to make his 13th appearance in the main draw at Roland Garros. He will be among an expected 50 players aged 30 or over to contest the main draw.

No. 8 seed Dustin Brown returns to the main draw after a two-year absence after prevailing over fellow German and No. 24 seed Daniel Brands, 7-6(1), 6-3. Brown will now look to win a main draw match at Roland Garros for the first time in his career,

No. 17 seed Gerald Melter of Austria and Jordi Samper-Montana of Spain were overjoyed at qualifying for a Grand Slam for the first time in their careers. Melzer, who has won three ATP Challenger Tour titles this year, defeated Matteo Donati of Italy, 6-4, 6-4. Samper-Montana moved past Aslan Karatsev of Russia, 6-2, 6-3.

Other players who qualified for Roland Garros on Friday include No. 4 seed Jan-Lennard Struff, No. 14 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili and former Top 50 player Steve Darcis. 

The most ideal opening round that this year’s qualifiers will find in the main draw are three separate all-qualifier matchups, while the one spot everyone will hope to avoid is a first-round match against No. 2 seed Andy Murray.

World No. 11 Marin Cilic advanced to his second ATP World Tour final of the season on Friday as he defeated David Ferrer 7-5, 7-5 at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open.

Cilic came into the contest having lost his past four meetings with Ferrer – his lone victory over the Spaniard coming seven years ago at the Australian Open – but claimed victory in just under two hours.

Ferrer let slip an early 3-1 lead in the match as Cilic levelled at 4-4 before breaking Ferrer again in the 12th game to seal the opener. Four breaks were exchanged in the second set before Cilic claimed the match with a decisive break in the 12th game. The Croat is playing his first tournament since Miami, having been sidelined through the clay swing with a knee injury.

Cilic will look to win his 15^th tour-level title when he faces either Stan Wawrinka or Lukas Rosol in Saturday’s final. The 27-year-old Cilic finished runner-up to Nick Kyrgios in the Marseille final in February.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are on a semi-final collision course in the top half of the draw at Roland Garros. In the bottom half of the draw, defending champion Stan Wawrinka is joined by second seed Andy Murray.

After missing out in the final three times previously, Djokovic is again looking to add the elusive Roland Garros crown to his Grand Slam collection, having won his 11^th major title at the Australian Open (d. Murray) at the start of the year.

World No. 1 Djokovic opens his bid to become the eighth player in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam when he faces Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round. He would face a qualifier in the second round. The first seed Djokovic is projected to meet is No. 31 Federico Delbonis in the third round.

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Roberto Bautista Agut, the No. 14 seed, is a potential fourth-round opponent for Djokovic, but must come through a section featuring a first-round clash between Borna Coric and Taylor Fritz, who are both a part of the ATP’s #NextGen. Coric trained with Djokovic on Court Philippe Chatrier on Friday.

Another all-#NextGen first-round contest in the top quarter of the draw sees Hyeon Chung take on French wild card Quentin Halys. Seventh seed Tomas Berdych headlines that section of the draw and is projected to take on Djokovic in the quarter-finals. But the Czech must first overcome a 0-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Vasek Pospisil in his opening match. Spaniards David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez could also both stand in Berdych’s way of a quarter-final berth, as potential fourth-round opponents for the Czech.

Nine-time champion Nadal is attempting to capture his first major title since lifting the trophy at Roland Garros in 2014 (d. Djokovic). But he has a testing draw. The Spaniard, who will celebrate his 30^th birthday during the fortnight, opens against big-serving Australian Sam Groth and could face a third-round clash with Fabio Fognini, who beat Nadal three times last year.

Fast-rising Austrian Dominic Thiem could lie in wait for Nadal in the fourth round, though he finds himself in the same section of the draw as #NextGen Alexander Zverev, who joins Thiem in the Nice semi-finals today. Thiem defeated Nadal in the Buenos Aires semi-finals in February and tested the Spaniard in Monte-Carlo last month.

Nadal is projected to face sixth seed and two-time former semi-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals, though the Frenchman would first need to get by 12^th seed David Goffin in the fourth round.

Murray comes into Roland Garros fresh from winning his third ATP World Tour clay-court crown in Rome, de-throning Djokovic in the final. The Scot, who pushed Djokovic to five sets in a memorable semi-final last year, opens his campaign against a qualifier and the first seed he could face is No. 27 Ivo Karlovic.

Potential fourth-round opponents for Murray include 15^th seed John Isner and No. 19 Benoit Paire, while Murray’s countryman and #NextGen star Kyle Edmund is also in that section. The Scot is projected to face fifth seed Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals, but the Japanese finds himself in a tough section of the draw, which could see him face Nick Kyrgios or Richard Gasquet in the fourth round.

Wawrinka lifted his second Grand Slam trophy at Roland Garros last year, and looks to be finding his form on the eve of his title defence, currently through to the semi-finals in Geneva after early exits in Madrid and Rome. The third seed opens against Lukas Rosol, his opponent today in the Geneva semi-finals. He could face Taro Daniel or Martin Klizan in the second round, with No. 30 Jeremy Chardy his expected third-round opponent. Gilles Simon, Viktor Troicki and Grigor Dimitrov will all vie to play Wawrinka in the fourth round.

Eighth seed Milos Raonic joins Wawrinka in the third quarter of the draw and could face the Swiss in the quarter-finals. The Canadian faces Janko Tipsarevic in the first round – this week in Geneva, the Serb played his first tour-level match since the 2015 US Open after being sidelined with injury. Fast-improving Frenchman Lucas Pouille is the first seed Raonic could face, in the third round, with Marin Cilic or Jack Sock seeded to face the Toronto native in the fourth round.