Goffin Advances to Third Final of '17

David Goffin advanced to his third final of the season by defeating Henri Laaksonen 7-6(7), 5-7, 6-3 at the Shenzhen Open on Saturday.

After cruising to a straight-sets victory over eighth-seeded Donald Young in the quarter-finals, Goffin was forced to dig deep against the No. 107 Laaksonen.

Goffin clinched the first set in a tie-break, then dropped the second after sailing a forehand wide at 6-5. The second-seeded Belgian immediately broke to open the third and broke again at 5-3 to earn the victory in two hours and 16 minutes.

“I’m feeling a little tired; I’ve never played him before but he’s a tough fighter,” Goffin said. “It was a tough battle, especially in the second set. I’m happy with the way I started the third set but it was a fight until the end.

“I’ve won three matches already in Shenzhen; I’m going to rest tonight to be ready for tomorrow.”

Goffin moves a step closer to his first title of the season. The World No. 12 failed to lift a tournament trophy in his two previous attempts this season. In February, Goffin fell to Grigor Dimitrov at Sofia and to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Rotterdam.

Laaksonen, the Swiss No. 3 behind Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, was playing in his third straight three-set match and his first ATP World Tour semi-final.

In the previous round, Laaksonen outlasted Chinese qualifier Zhizhen Zhang 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in two hours and five minutes. In the Round of 16, the 25 year old battled from a set down to rally past Marius Copil 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.