ATP Marseille: Stefanos Tsitsipas tops David Goffin to set Kukushkin clash
At the age of 31, Mikhail Kukushkin will achieve a career-high ranking on Monday after he advanced into the fourth ATP final and the first since Sydney 2015, ousting the young Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 33 minutes. Ugo competed in his first ATP semi-final after wins over Borna Coric and Matthias Bachinger although he stood no chance today despite those eight games he won, facing 12 break points and suffering three breaks to kept running away from the positive result almost all the time. Mikhail barely lost any point on serve until the closing stages of the match, doing everything right in his games and mounting the pressure on the youngster who couldn't deal with it.
Ugo did make one last push at the end of the second set when he earned his only break but that gave him nothing as Mikhail broke again in the following game to forge the crucial lead and march into the title match. The Frenchman saved four break points in the opening game of the encounter for a positive but shaky start, suffering a break in game three after a volley error, unable to tame a forehand crosscourt attack from his opponent. That was the pivotal moment of the opening set as they both served well in the rest of the set, dropping just three points in the next seven service games and with Kukushkin who closed it with three winners at 5-4, losing no points on serve in the entire set!
A left-hander sprayed a forehand error in game five of the second set to fall further behind before he broke back in game eight after a forehand winner, in what was the only solid return game he played today. Instead of building on that, Humbert lost serve in the very next game and Mikhail made no errors this time, sealing the deal with a beautiful lob winner in game ten for a 6-4 and the place in the final where he will face Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Australian Open semi-finalist is through to his fourth ATP final following a 7-6, 6-2 win over David Goffin in just 69 minutes, defeating the Belgian for the third time in five matches.
Stefanos is yet to lose a set in Marseille after previous wins over Hubert Hurkacz and Sergiy Stakhovsky, seeking the second ATP title in a career and another big step towards the top-10. The Greek delivered fury form his initial shot (28 from 30 on the first), losing serve only once and winning 42% of the return points that earned three breaks for him. David has been struggling with injuries and form, playing in his first semi-final since Cincinnati last year and staying on the level terms with Stefanos in the opening ten games for a 5-5.
Stefanos looked rock-solid on serve before that 11th game when he suddenly got broken at 15, allowing Goffin to serve for the set before he broke back to set up a tie break that he won 7-1 with three mini-breaks after 42 minutes. This hurt Goffin's confidence and he suffered a break at the start of the second set when Tsitsipas landed a nice volley winner after a well-constructed attack. The Belgian netted a backhand in game three to gift another service games to Stefanos who never looked back, completing the win with a hold at love in game eight and hoping for more of the same against Kukushkin as well.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Ea7ef7
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