Stan Wawrinka will attempt to retain his Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open title on Saturday when he faces German qualifier Mischa Zverev in the final. The Swiss star, who is tied 1-1 lifetime against Zverev in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, is aiming to lift the 16th tour-level trophy of his career.

Wawrinka improved to a 19-8 record on the season when he defeated Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 7-6(4) in one hour and 39 minutes on Friday. He is 6-5 in clay-court finals and his last crown came in September 2016 at the US Open (d. Djokovic).

“The crowd has been great this week,” said Wawrinka. “They are very loud and support me a lot when I need most. I’m happy to be in the final and I’m looking forward to it. Mischa Zverev is a very talented player. He prepared very well for the season and has been playing some great tennis this year. He’s had some great victories especially against [Andy] Murray in Melbourne. He’s a lefty and has a special style that we don’t see too often nowadays.”

Zverev, who will attempt to capture his first ATP World Tour title, will be contesting his first final appearance since September 2010 at the Moselle Open in Metz (d. Simon).

Earlier in the day, Zverev, a traditional serve-and-volleyer who has varied his game style throughout the week in Geneva, kept his nerve to knock out second seed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The 29-year-old German required two hours and 18 minutes to reach the second ATP World Tour final of his career. Six days ago his younger brother, Alexander Zverev, captured his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (d. Djokovic).

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Colombians Advance To Doubles Final

Second-seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah will look to win their second Geneva doubles crown in three years on Saturday after they beat wild cards Johan Nikles and Tim Puetz 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals. Cabal and Farah, who beat Raven Klaasen and Yen-Hsun Lu for the 2015 title, have a 10-11 record in team finals (1-2 in 2017).

Later in the day, top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau overcame Scott Lipsky and Leander Paes 6-3, 3-6, 10-3 in 80 minutes. They will now look to lift their 14th team crown (13-4 in finals).

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will play in his first clay-court final on Saturday after running away from Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 on Friday during the semi-finals of the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon.

Tsonga hit 14 aces and saved eight of 10 break points in the last-four contest. The 32-year-old right-hander has played in 25 tour-level finals during his 14-year career but none on clay.

The second-seeded Tsonga will go for his third ATP World Tour title of the season and the 15^th of his career against top seed Milos Raonic or third seed Tomas Berdych.

Tsonga won back-to-back indoor titles in February in Rotterdam and Marseille, but has gotten off to a slow start on the clay. He had to withdraw from his second-round match at the Mutua Madrid Open and from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia because of a right shoulder injury.

The 2017 Roland Garros draw ceremony will begin on Friday at 12 noon local time (11 a.m. BST).

Novak Djokovic, who completed the career Grand Slam with his first Roland Garros title in 2016 (d. Murray), is the second seed. The Serbian, who has a 12-9 record in Grand Slam championship finals, also finished runner-up on Parisian clay in 2012, 2014 (l. to Nadal both times) and 2015 (l. to Wawrinka). Djokovic is seeking his first tour-level title since lifting the Qatar ExxonMobil Open crown (d. Murray) in January.

Last year, Andy Murray became the first Briton to reach the Roland Garros final since Henry Austin in 1937, on the back of a title run at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (d. Djokovic). The World No. 1, reunited this week with Ivan Lendl, has a 16-7 match record in 2017, including the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy (d. Verdasco).

Rafael Nadal, a winner of 10 titles at both the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, plus a fifth title at the Mutua Madrid Open in 2017, seeks ‘La Decima’ at Roland Garros, where he has an incredible 72-2 record. Last year, he withdrew ahead of his third-round match due to a left wrist injury.

Stan Wawrinka, currently competing in Geneva where he is the defending champion, is 18-8 on the year, but will be hoping to evoke memories of his 2015 Roland Garros title run and 2016 semi-final finish. The Swiss was runner-up to compatriot Roger Federer at the BNP Paribas Open in March.

Kei Nishikori competes at Roland Garros for the seventh time hoping to better his 2015 quarter-final run (l. to Tsonga in five sets).

#NextGenATP’s Stefanos Tsitsipas is one of eight players who qualified for the main draw of Roland Garros with final-round qualifying wins on Thursday. Among those also reaching their first Grand Slam main draw are Nicolas Jarry and Stefano Napolitano.

Tsitsipas encountered few problems moving past Oscar Otte of Germany 6-3, 6-2. The 18-year-old Greek player has never played the main draw of a Grand Slam before. He showed promise on clay by reaching back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour finals on the surface last October in Morocco.

Nicolas Jarry had never won a round at a Grand Slam prior to this week, but the Chilean is through to the main draw after defeating #NextGenATP American Reilly Opelka 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3. The 21 year old has reached two Challenger finals this year.

Stefano Napolitano was also winless in Grand Slams before his dream run this week, taking out #NextGenATP player Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2. The 21-year-old Italian won his maiden Challenger last November on home soil in Ortisei.

The remaining final-round qualifying round winners on Thursday were all established veterans. The winners were ninth seed Santiago Giraldo, 13^th seed Guido Pella, 21^st seed Sergiy Stakhovsky, Teymuraz Gabashvili and Simone Bolelli.

All eight remaining final-round qualifying matches will be contested on Friday, with former Top 15 player Paul-Henri Mathieu and #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev among those in action.