Alexander Zverev has moved to within one win of his 20th ATP tour title after beating Mikael Ymer 6-1 6-3 at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier.
The German top seed fired six aces and dictated with his deep, heavy-hitting groundstrokes to triumph after 53 minutes in Saturday’s semi-final.
Zverev, who lifted the trophy in Montpellier in his last appearance at the tournament in 2017, has dropped just 13 games en route to the final of the ATP 250 event.
The world No.3 will now take on Alexander Bublik in Sunday’s final as he aims to lift his first trophy of the season, following his disappointing fourth-round loss at the Australian Open to Denis Shapovalov last month.
Bublik remained on course for a maiden tour-level title after he beat Filip Krajinovic 6-4 6-2.
Meanwhile in India at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune, Joao Sousa became an ATP Tour finalist once again as he showcased his fighting qualities to end Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer’s fairytale run in a marathon battle.
The 32-year-old saved three match points to claw past Ymer 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 to reach his 11th tour-level final.
It is the first time Sousa has advanced to this stage at an ATP Tour event since 2018 when he triumphed in Estoril.
He will be aiming to win his fourth tour trophy on Sunday against Emil Ruusuvuori, the sixth seed who came from a break down in the second set to beat Kamil Majchrzak 6-4 7-6.
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