Robin Haase and Philipp Oswald dropped their first set this week at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad in Saturday’s semi-finals, but quickly recovered to claim a 7-5, 3-6, 10-3 win against Italians Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori.

The Dutch-Austrian duo claimed its only break point of the match to secure the opening set and saved six of the seven break point against them in the contest. The victory puts them through to their second tour-level final as a team; they won their only previous title match in 2019 in Umag.

Tomislav Brkic and Francisco Cabral will provide the opposition in Sunday’s final after the Bosnian-Portuguese duo eased past Fabrice Martin and Franko Skugor 6-3 6-3 without facing a break point. The pair is seeking it first title as a team, though Martin is a seven-time tour-level doubles champion and Skugor has six titles to his name.

Glasspool/Heliovaara Pull Upset In Hamburg
Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara defeated third seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus 6-4 6-4 in the Hamburg European Open semi-finals on Saturday, extending their perfect record this week to six sets won from six played.

The British-Finnish duo knocked out second seeds Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof in the opening round before dismissing two-time Roland Garros champions Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz in the second round. They will seek their first title of 2022 in their fourth final of the season after falling just short in Montpellier, Dallas and The Queen’s Club in London.

Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop await in the final. The fourth seeds knocked off top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 3-6, 6-3, 10-3 on Friday.

Carlos Alcaraz fought off a stern test from Alex Molcan on Saturday at the Hamburg European Open to set up a marquee final against fellow #NextGenATP star Lorenzo Musetti at the ATP 500 event.

The 7-6(2), 6-1 victory moves the Spaniard up to No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, with the No. 4 spot on offer should he claim the Hamburg title. Regardless of the final result, Alcaraz is set to break into the Top 5 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time.

“It was tough,” Alcaraz said post-match. “Obviously he played really well. The first set was really close. I’m really happy to be able to end the first set playing well.

“In the second set, I think he was down a little bit. He didn’t play well in the second set. I finished the match with a lot of confidence and played very well.”

The Spaniard was tested early by Molcan, who matched his aggression from the baseline throughout the opening set. Alcaraz twice led by a break in the opener, but was forced to a tie-break as the Slovakian battled back with a tricky combination of powerful hitting and deft drop shots — tactics Alcaraz has used to great effect all season.

“I couldn’t read the drop shots from him,” Alcaraz added. “He was better on the drop shots today, so I was a little bit [frustrated] in the first set.”

But after Alcaraz contributed to Molcan’s success with unforced errors late in the set, the Spaniard cleaned up his game in the tie-break as he raced to a 6/0 lead before closing it out.

An expert frontrunner, the Spaniard carried that momentum into the second set as he unloaded from the baseline with Molcan unable to offer the sort of resistance he summoned in the opening set.

The Spaniard can now look ahead as he seeks to improve upon his 5-0 record in tour-level finals, including 4-0 this season. With victory against Musetti, he will break a tie with Rafael Nadal for the most titles on the 2022 ATP Tour season.

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“Lorenzo is playing really well,” Alcaraz previewed. “Of course he’s a great player. It’s going to be a great final. He has played great matches before the final. [I have] as well, so I have a lot of confidence for the final and hope to make it six-for-six.”

Both Alcaraz and Musetti enter the final behind eight-set winning streaks in Hamburg after both men dropped the opening set of their campaigns.

Lorenzo Musetti has broken through to his first ATP Tour final at the Hamburg European Open behind a Saturday semi-final victory against the red-hot Francisco Cerundolo. The #NextGenATP Italian dominated the first half of the contest but navigated a nervy finish to secure a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory.

“It means a lot for me,” Musetti said of reaching his first tour-level title match. “It’s a surprise for me because I was not playing my best tennis last week [in Bastad], so I didn’t expect to be in the final here.”

On his first match point at 5-4, A/40 in the second set, Musetti’s underarm serve backfired as Cerundolo reacted quickly to force a difficult, low volley. But after falling behind 1/3 in the tie-break, the 20-year-old closed the match how he started it, dominating proceedings to win the final six points.

“It was not easy because he was playing really good. I was playing under pressure,” the Italian said. “I saw him so far from the baseline on the ad side. I don’t know why I did the underarm serve, but it didn’t work. At the end I didn’t take the option of the underarm serve. I went for the kick and serve-and-volley and it worked. So I’m really happy.”

Musetti extended his winning streak to eight consecutive sets on the Hamburg clay after his comeback win against Dusan Lajovic, in which he saved two match points in the opening round. Cerundolo saw his eight-match winning streak, dating back to his Bastad title, ended.

After battling through three deuces to hold in the opening game of the match, the Italian raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and then led 2-0 in the second. Musetti was able to neutralise his opponent’s powerful forehand with strong hitting off both baseline wings and dogged retrieving when stretched. 

From 1-3 down in the second set, Cerundolo began to find the range on the forehand that has propelled him on his recent run. Hitting the corners, he levelled at 3-3 but then committed a few untimely errors to immediately hand the break back.

Still, he was able to force a tie-break behind more powerful forehands as Musetti failed to serve out the match. Cerundolo appeared to be locked in as he took the lead in the tie-break, but Musetti rediscovered his top form to advance to his first tour-level final in style.

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The Italian has moved up 22 places to No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week, setting himself up to improve upon his previous career high of No. 51 in the next edition of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. 

An all #ATPNextGen final could be on the cards, should 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz get past Alex Molcan in Saturday’s second semi-final.

Musetti is bidding to become the third Italian man to lift the Hamburg trophy after Fabio Fognini — who earned his 400th match win earlier this week — and Paolo Bertolucci.

“It’s really an honour for me to get compared to two legends of Italian tennis like Fabio and Paolo,” Musetti said. “I will try my best to lift the trophy. For sure it’s not going to be an easy final because Carlos or Alex, they are both really tough opponents.”

Top seed Casper Ruud produced a clinical performance to see off the challenge of Albert Ramos-Vinolas with a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 semi-final victory at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad on Saturday afternoon.

In a battle between the past two champions at the clay-court ATP 250 event in Switzerland, Ruud was dominant throughout. The Norwegian broke 2019 champion Ramos-Vinolas’ serve five times and did not face a single break point on his own delivery as he charged to a 62-minute victory.

“I played really well from the start to the end,” said Ruud after the match. “I got the perfect start to have a 3-0 lead. He’s always a tough player to play against. He’s a lefty which makes everything a bit complicated sometimes.

“He’s a great fighter, a great runner, and makes a lot of balls. Today he made a few extra unforced errors, but I was also pressuring him all the time, playing heavy and very smart and aggressive, so I guess I was doing the right thing all the time.”

Ruud will take on second seed Matteo Berrettini in Sunday’s championship match, after the Italian earlier defeated Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-4. Both Ruud and Berrettini are seeking their third title of 2022 and their second crown in Gstaad, where both finalists are also unbeaten. Berrettini triumphed on his sole previous appearance in the Swiss mountains in 2018, while Ruud defeated Hugo Gaston to lift the trophy on his maiden appearance at the event a year ago.

“It will be a tough one for sure,” said Ruud after his semi-final victory. “I know Matteo well. We didn’t grow up together but the past years we have played each other a couple of times. He’s a super nice guy and he’s also on a good run on the Tour at the moment and also in Switzerland. We’ll both seek our second win here in Gstaad, and it will be an interesting match.”

A lightning-fast start from Ruud on Saturday saw his heavy baseline hitting earn a breakthrough on the Ramos-Vinolas serve in the second game. That set the tone for the match, as the Norwegian consistently pounced on any short balls offered by the Spaniard with his huge forehand.

A further break of the Ramos-Vinolas serve clinched the opening set for the top seed, and he was just as clinical in the second set as the Spaniard continued to struggle behind his delivery. Ruud wrapped up his win having won 22/38 points on return in a commanding all-around performance.

“Yesterday I said that I needed to bring my A-game if I wanted to have a chance and I was able to do it,” said Ruud. “I knew also that he finished his match late yesterday, and sometimes you need to use those small things to your advantage. I came out playing aggressive and with good intensity, and that worked well.”

Having lost his first four tour-level matches against Ramos-Vinolas, Saturday’s win improved Ruud’s ATP Head2Head series record against the Spaniard to 3-4. The World No. 5 is chasing his fourth consecutive ATP Tour title in Switzerland in Sunday’s final, having also lifted the trophy in Geneva in 2021 and 2022 as well as last year in Gstaad.

Matteo Berrettini’s magical European summer rumbled on at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad on Saturday, when the World No. 15 eased to a straight-sets semi-final victory against 2015 champion Dominic Thiem.

The Italian dominated the pair’s sixth ATP Head2Head meeting in Switzerland, where he struck the ball with power and accuracy throughout to charge to a 6-1, 6-4 victory. Berrettini raced to a 5-0 lead early in the first set and gave Thiem few opportunities to establish a foothold in the match thereafter, going on to seal victory in 78 minutes.

Having won his previous two tournaments in Stuttgart and at The Queen’s Club, the win extends Berrettini’s winning streak since returning to Tour in June after a hand injury to 12 matches. Standing between the second seed and his third Tour title of 2022 in Sunday’s championship match will be defending champion Casper Ruud or 2019 titlist Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

More to follow…

Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop dominated the second half of their Hamburg European Open semi-final to earn a 3-6, 6-3, 10-3 against top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos on Friday.

In the lone doubles match of the day in Hamburg, the Indian-Dutch duo did not drop serve in the second set to force a Match Tie-break. In the decider, they won all seven points on serve to reach their second tour-level final as a team. The pair also reached the Antwerp final in 2020.

While Bopanna is a 21-time tour-level titlist and Middelkoop a 12-time champion, the veterans are seeking their first trophy together. Bopanna has two titles this season (in Pune and Adelaide with countryman Ramkumar Ramanathan), while Middelkoop has one (with countryman Robin Haase in Rotterdam).

The fourth seeds await the winner of Saturday’s semi-final, which pits third seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus against Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.

Semi-finals Set In Gstaad
Robin Haase and Philipp Oswald were 6-1, 6-3 winners against Spaniards Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar on Friday at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad, with the Dutch-Austrian duo saving the only two break points against them in the quarter-final contest.

They will next face Italians Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori, who advanced past Jonny O’Mara and Roman Jebavy 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday.

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Francisco Cabral and Tomislav Brkic were also victorious on Friday, scoring a 7-6(3), 6-3 win against Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan. The Portuguese-Bosnian duo did not face a break point in the match and converted on one of their two break chances.

Fabrice Martin and Franko Skugor await in the semi-finals following their  3-6, 7-6(3), 10-2 win on Thursday against Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer.