The high seed Carlos Alcaraz reserved his place in the Open Barcelona final after completing a direct victory over France’s Arthur Fils in the semifinals.
The Spaniard defeated the 14th 6-2 6-4 Fils Fils and will now play Holger Rune for the title after he sent Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-2 to the outer clay.
Alcaraz has a 2-1 record against Rune, recently defeating Dane in Wimbledon in 2023, but the pair have not yet met in Clay.
Alcaraz, who won his first Monte-Carlo Masters title last weekend, is looking for his third title of the year on his household and 19 of his career, and has a positive record in Barcelona Open after winning it in 2022 and 2023.
“Since I was a little kid, I was here on Sundays seeing the final,” Alcaraz said.
“I’ve played here twice, so being in a final here in Barcelona means a lot. It’s been a really fun and brilliant week, and let’s see if we can end up with a trophy tomorrow.”
Zverev eyes the third title of Munich
High Alexander Zverev seed hit nine aces while defeating Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 to set up an open Munich showcase with American Ben Shelton.
World No. 3 will seek to collect his 24th career title and his third on the home terrain which could see that of the three titles of the Philipp Kohlschreiber Munich.
“AW is great, the whole week has been amazing,” Zverev said.
“I lost focus once in the first set in my service, but besides, I thought it was a good match. I thought Fabian played extremely well, and I’m just happy to be in the final.”
The second Shelton pharmacy provided a 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 win over Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo to reserve his place in the final.
“To win a victory in Clay against a boy like this gives me a lot of confidence, and to be in a final (ATP) 500 here in Europe, I’m really happy,” Shelton said.
“I’ve played well here, I love the energy here in Munich, and I’ll go for that title.”
Ostapenko holds an invincible record against Swiatek
Jelena Ostapenko kept her incredible invincible record against IgA Swiatek with a win at Grand Prix to Stuttgart Tennis Pornis.
Pole must have hoped that a first clash in her favored clay would help her end her hoodo against Ostapenko, but on the contrary, Latvia with big strokes extended her head-to-head advantage to 6-0.
Swiate, champion in Germany in 2022 and 2023, fought again after losing the opening group, but Ostapenko withdrew in decision makers to win 6-3 3-6-2.
“The main thing for me is just stay aggressive when I play against it,” Ostapenko said. “I know I will have a chance. I’m really happy to be in the semifinals.”
In the latter four, the former French open champion will face Russia’s Alexandrova Ekaterina, who threw the third seeds Jessica Pegula 6-4.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is offering for her first title in Stuttgart after being lost in the last three years, and she will love her chances to finish that run after relief in a 6-4 6-1 win over Elise Mertens.
Its semifinal opponent will be the fifth seed Jasmine Paolini, who produced a great screen to defeat Coco Gauff 6-4 6-3.
Meanwhile, in Rouen Open, No 3 seeds Olga Danilovic defeated Dutch Susan Lamens 6-4, 6-4 to reach the finals in Kindarena.
Danilovic will face Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the final after she defeated Romanian Elena-Gabriela Russian 6-0 6-2 in the semifinals.
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