Fabio Fognini saved two match points as he prevailed in a gripping semi-final clash with Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday at the St. Petersburg Open, edging the top-seeded Spaniard 2-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(5).

Fognini will look to win his sixth ATP World Tour title when he faces Damir Dzumhur in Sunday’s final of this ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tournament. Dzumhur reached his second ATP World Tour final as he defeated eighth seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 7-5.

Fognini, who was a finalist in St. Petersburg five years ago (l. to Klizan), battled past Bautista Agut in a pulsating clash, lasting two hours and 28 minutes. Bautista Agut led the contest 6-2, 3-1 and held two match points at 6/5 and 7/6 in the second set tie-break, but could not close out the win. Neither player could engineer a break of serve in the decider, and from 3/5 down in the tie-break, Fognini won the last four points to prevail.

“It was a really tough match at the beginning,” said Fognini. “He was playing really fast and really solid at the same time. I’m really happy that I came back to win.”

The 30-year-old Fognini is chasing his second title of the season, following victory on clay in Gstaad in July (d. Hanfmann). This would be his first hard-court title. The right-hander leads Dzumhur 2-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

The 25-year-old Dzumhur is enjoying a career-best year and has surged to a career-high World No. 55 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after reaching his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Los Cabos (l. to Querrey) followed by his first final in Winston-Salem (l. to Bautista Agut).

In his first ATP meeting with the 6’5’’ Struff, the 5’9’’ Dzumhur withstood seven aces as he converted five of his seven break points to prevail in 80 minutes.

“It was a great day for me,” said Dzumhur. “I played from the start until the end at a high level. I think I took my chances. Today was one of the best matches of the past few months for me. I’m really happy to go through to my second final.

“I knew that I had to play better than yesterday (against Liam Broady) and I tried to fix the things that didn’t work yesterday, especially my serve and my forehand. Also, my returns were great. I was making him play more, because he likes fast points. I think I won because I didn’t give him easy balls that he likes.”

Jebavy/Middelkoop Upset Second Seeds
Roman Jebavy and Matwe Middelkoop reached their first ATP World Tour doubles final together as they denied second seeds Nicholas Monroe and John-Patrick Smith 6-4, 6-1. The Czech/Dutch duo will face top seeds Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos in the final. 

Germany’s Mischa Zverev, who faces countryman Peter Gojowczyk in the semi-finals of the Moselle Open on Saturday, tells ATPWorldTour.com about his imaginary tennis matches with Andre Agassi and his most emotional moment on court.

First moment I realised I loved tennis?
Subconsciously, maybe when I was like zero years old and my Mom gave birth to me! I was always around tennis courts and I was always enjoying being around tennis courts. My Mom was telling me that when I was very little, when I was less than two years old, I would grab like a brush or something that had the shape of a tennis racquet and clear my room and play imaginary matches against Agassi, like five-set matches. I think that’s when I realised that I really liked tennis!

First coach and the most important lesson he/she taught me?
My Dad. The most important stroke he taught me was the volley and the most important lesson was: ‘If you make the right decisions on court, you’re going to get rewarded.’ So, no matter what you feel like doing, or if you’re nervous or up and down, just try to do the right thing.

First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour?
I don’t know… Because I feel like now I enjoy tennis more than I used to. The most recent and most special one was actually beating Isner from two sets to love down (in the 2017 Australian Open second round). That was so emotional because I’d been two sets to love down, match point down, break point down in the fourth. It was the most incredible match and the most emotional moment by far.

First time I was recognised?
I want to say it was a while back in France, because I feel like French people enjoy tennis. I think I was at an airport in Nice or something and the person who was checking my passport I think he recognised me. I want to say that was in 2009, or something like that. A while back. It was really surprising!

First time I travelled to a tournament abroad?
I was 11 or 12 years old. I don’t remember where we went, but it wasn’t a fun trip! Back then there was no wifi. I’m sure it was not a first class ticket. It was probably by car or by train for like 10 or 11 hours just reading a book.

First thing I bought with my prize money?
A house in Florida. That was the first big purchase. But I’m not giving out the address!

First autograph I got?
This might sound so funny, but I think I was in Hamburg and my club was the training facility for the Rothenbaum tournament. And the first guy whose autograph I got, and I asked ‘Who is it?’, was Daniel Nestor! He was ranked like 90th in singles back then and that was around 1997, or something like that. I don’t still have the autograph!

Benoit Paire won the match of the day at the Moselle Open on Friday, saving one match point to knock out 2014 champion and top-seeded Belgian David Goffin. The Frenchman dented Goffin’s hopes of making up ground in the Emirates ATP Race To London with a 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(7) victory over two hours and 25 minutes in Metz.

Paire recovered from a 2-4 deficit in the first set, prior to being broken by Goffin at 5-5 in the second set. Goffin took a 4-2 lead in the decider, then fought back from 3/5 down in the tie-break only to squander a match point at 6/5. It was Paire’s third win in four meetings over Goffin.

Paire, who is 0-4 in semi-finals this year, next meets World No. 64 Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, who defeated Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 7-5, 6-3 after saving the four break points he faced. The 25-year-old claimed his 24th match win of the year, which is double the number of victories he’d had in his career before this season.

Mischa Zverev will attempt to reach the Moselle Open final for the second time on Saturday when he plays fellow German and qualifier Peter Gojowczyk. No German has ever captured the title at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament – Philipp Kohlschreiber finished runner-up in 2009 (l. to Monfils)

Fifth seed Zverev fought past big-serving lucky loser Kenny de Schepper 7-5, 7-6(4) in one hour and 31 minutes. Seven years ago, Zverev qualified en route to his first ATP World Tour title match (l. to Simon).

Gojowczyk, currently No. 95 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, recorded his second straight win (also 2017 Wimbledon) over Romania’s Marius Copil 6-2, 6-4 in 56 minutes. He won the first four games of the pair’s second meeting for his 10th tour-level match win of 2017.

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Mirnyi Denied Milestone Doubles Win
Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak denied Max Mirnyi the 750th match win of his career when ‘The Beast’ partnered Philipp Oswald. Koolhof and Sitak won 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in 74 minutes for a place in their second team final (2017 BB&T Atlanta Open, l. to Bryans).

They will challenge a French pair, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Paire or third seeds Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who will contest their semi-final on Saturday.

Roberto Bautista Agut reached the St. Petersburg Open semi-finals for the third successive year on Friday by sweeping past seventh seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-1, 6-2 in 72 minutes. “The score looks easy, but the match wasn’t,” said Bautista Agut. “Viktor is always tough to beat, a very good fighter and serves well.”

The top-seeded Spaniard raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set, then recovered from a 0-2 deficit in the second set en route to extending his perfect FedEx ATP Head2Head record to 4-0 against Troicki, who is now 20-22 on the year.

Bautista Agut, who has already won two ATP World Tour hard-court titles this year at the Aircel Chennai Open in January (d. Medvedev) and the Winston-Salem Open in August (d. Dzumhur), is currently No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Race To London. He will next play Italian third seed and 2012 finalist Fabio Fognini or Lithuanian lucky loser Ricardas Berankis.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur, the player Bautista Agut beat in the Winston-Salem final, continued his fine run of form. The 25 year old recovered from 0-2 in the deciding set to beat first-time ATP World Tour quarter-finalist Liam Broady, a British qualifier, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in one hour and 52 minutes.

“It definitely feels great to be in the semi-finals – another great week for me,” said Dzumhur. “It was a tough match, but at the end I pulled out some good shots and defended well.”

When asked what the key to his run of form was, Dzumhur – 25-7 at all levels since 19 June – admitted, “I wasn’t playing badly at all, but I couldn’t find what was missing in my game. When I came to the hard courts of Los Cabos, I felt so much more confident than before. I feel that confidence came from practising a lot and after a few good wins, I am playing my best tennis in the past five weeks.” He is through to his third tour-level semi-final of the season.

Dzumhur will next play eighth seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany on Saturday. Struff denied second-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga his 30th match win of the year after the German recovered from a set and 1-3 deficit to triumph 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 49 minutes. Tsonga, who has recorded 30+ victories from 2008-16, dropped to 29-11 on the season after his first loss in four meetings against Struff.

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