Zverev/Fucsovics Shining On Team Debut In Stuttgart
Zverev/Fucsovics Shining On Team Debut In Stuttgart
Marton Fucsovics and Mischa Zverev had never played doubles together before arriving in Stuttgart this week for the MercedesCup. Nevertheless, they booked their place in the semi-finals with a 6-3, 5-7, 10-4 victory over Jonathan Eysseric and Lucas Pouille in 74 minutes on Friday.
The Hungarian-German team will now challenge Robert Lindstedt and Marcin Matkowski on Saturday. Fucsovics has never reached an ATP World Tour final in doubles, while Zverev has triumphed three times — twice with Mikhail Youzhny in 2008, and once last year with younger brother Alexander Zverev.
The winner of that semi-final will meet Philipp Petzschner and Tim Puetz in the final. The Germans advanced to the championship match by beating top seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 7-6(2), 6-3 in a big-serving 79-minute encounter.
Petzschner, the 2011 Stuttgart titlist (w/Melzer), will now compete to capture his eighth tour-level doubles crown (7-7 overall), while Puetz contests his first ATP World Tour final. Together they have teamed up to capture two ATP Challenger Tour crowns at Wroclaw in 2015 and Aix-en-Provence earlier this year.
Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor will attempt to capture their second ATP World Tour team trophy in the final of the Libema Open.
The third seeds knocked out top seeds and defending champions Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who needed to play two matches on Friday, 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-6 in 89 minutes. Earlier in the day, Kubot and Melo overcame Dutchmen Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 in 81 minutes.
Inglot and Skugor will next meet second seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, who first beat Matthew Ebden and Malek Jaziri 2-6, 6-4, 10-4 in 70 minutes in the quarter-finals and then fourth seeds Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak 6-3, 6-2 in 52 minutes.
Inglot and Skugor will now look to add to the Gazprom Hungarian Open trophy (d. Middelkoop/Molteni) they won in April, while Klaasen and Venus triumphed at the Open 13 Provence (d. Daniell/Inglot) in February.
