Munich (Germany) (AFP) – Defending champion Alexander Zverev booked his place in the final of the ATP tournament in Munich with an impressive straight-sets win over South Korea’s Hyeon Chung in Saturday’s semi-final.
Zverev, the top seed, put in an assured display to seal a 7-5, 6-2 victory in one hour, 31 minutes to claim his first win against Chung at the third attempt.
The 21-year-old Zverev will play former Munich champion Philipp Kohlschreiber in an all-German final on Sunday.
“Kohlschreiber plays very, very good tennis here, has been in the final a few times and has won it a few times, so it’ll be tough,” said Zverev.
The first set swung after Zverev won five straight games from 3-0 down to earn the opportunity to serve for the set, but Chung responded by breaking the German to make it 5-5.
However, Zverev, ranked third in the world, kept his cool and broke the South Korean for a third time before converting his fourth set point.
The German applied constant pressure in the second set, securing consecutive breaks in the third and fifth games, then continued to hold serve to reach the final.
In his semi-final, Kohlschreiber, 34, who won the Munich title in 2007, 2012 and 2016, had few problems as he saw off Maximilian Marterer for a 6-2, 6-4 win to reach his sixth final in the Bavarian capital.
Kohlschreiber, ranked 34th in the world, converted four of his six break point chances to defeat Marterer, who had not lost a set en route to the final, in 65 minutes.
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