ATP Sao Paulo: Guido Pella downs Laslo Djere. Will face Garin for the title
Six years ago, the 16-year-old Christian Garin became the first player born in 1996 with a win at the ATP tournament in Vina del Mar, ahead of Borna Coric, Karen Khachanov, Hyeon Chung and Daniil Medvedev. Ranked inside the top-100 for four months now, Christian will compete for the first ATP title on Sunday after a career-best result in Sao Paulo, defeating the Norwegian youngster Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 19 minutes. Christian's second serve proved to be more efficient and he faced just three break points, suffering one break and taking the rival's serve three times to book the place in the title match.
Playing in his second ATP semi-final, Casper gave his best to overpower the rival and reach the maiden ATP final although it wasn't enough, losing forehand-to-forehand exchanges and suffering those three breaks that he couldn't pull back. The Norwegian saved two break points in the opening game of the match with winners before landing a forehand long at 1-1 to push Garin in front. Casper had the opportunity to break back already in game four but his forehand let him down, allowing Christian to stay ahead and close the opener with a hold in game ten after saving another break point.
The Chilean won four straight points on the return at the start of the second set for an early break thanks to a forehand mistake from Ruud who erased the deficit when Garin sprayed a backhand error in game two. Nonetheless, Christian moved ahead once again in the third game which was all he needed to wrap up the win, delivering four easy holds and advancing into the final after forcing an error from Casper at 5-4. The 3rd seed Guido Pella has secured the place in the fifth ATP final and he will chase the first ATP title on Sunday after losing the previous four, including Cordoba in February.
The Argentinian took down Rio de Janeiro champion Laslo Djere 7-6, 7-6 in an hour and 49 minutes, pushing each other to the limits all the time and with an extended opening set tie break that saw 22 points. Guido won ten points more than his rival and he played against two break points, giving serve away on both and bouncing back with two breaks from five opportunities to reach the tie breaks and win them both, securing the place in the final. Tired but pumped and motivated, Djere drew first blood in the second game of the encounter although he kept the lead just for a couple of minutes, suffering a break at 15 when his forehand finished beyond the baseline.
Seven good holds later, the Serb faced an ultimate challenge at 5-5, repelling three break points to set up a tie break where he saved four set points at 4-6, 7-8 and 9-10, wasting two of his own before Pella finally clinched the opener with a backhand winner at 11-10 after 57 minutes of intense tennis. Laslo sprayed a forehand error in the second game of the second set to fall a set and a break down, trailing 5-2 before he managed to pull the last-minute break in game nine when Pella served for the match to extend the set and his chances. It wasn't to be for him, though, with a left-hander firing a service winner in the eighth point of the tie break to wrap up the triumph and enter the final.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2NCY5Qm
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