ATP Cologne 2 - semi finals

Semi final day in Cologne.

2020 Bett1Hulks Championship (2) - an ATP 250 tournament, on Hard, Rebound Ace, in Cologne, Germany, 19-25 October 2020.

No defending champion:

This is a new tournament on the ATP calendar

Semi final results:

Alexander Zverev (1) (Germany) v wildcard Jannik Sinner (Italy)

The pair had met once before, just recently at Roland Garros, where Sinner won a memorable round of sixteen match.

Sinner started the better again, leading 3-1, but Zverev broke back in game seven and games were tied at 4-4.

Then a series of service breaks followed, first Zverev, then Sinner while the top seed was serving for the set (twice).

A tie break was necessary, and Sinner lost three of the first four points on his own serve, giving Zverev four set points. This was more than enough and he led 7-6(3).

Sinner was broken in the second game of set two, and was almost almost down 1-5, saving a break point in the sixth game. Zverev had no problems on serve until game seven, the longest of the match, where deuce was visited five times, two break points were negotiated, and three game points wasted.

Trouble was averted and 5-2 reached.

Alexander Zverev won the next eight points and the match 7-6(3) 6-3.

Félix Auger-Aliassime (5) (Canada) v Diego Schwartzman (2) (Argentina)

The pair had never played each other before.

Schwartzman broke the Canadian serve in the opening game and that was the only blemish on either player when serving for the entire first set.

Auger-Aliassime won 16 of 21 points on serve for the rest of the set, while Schwartzman won 20 of 24, including love games in his last two ventures from the line.

Schwartzman ahead 6-4.

Auger-Aliassime began set two with a love game on serve, and had Schwartzman down 15-40. However, he couldn’t convert his chances, and in fact dropped his next serve.

Schwartzman was taken to deuce but held for 3-1, and no threat to serve followed until Schwartzman was serving for the match at 5-4.

0-30 was a worry, and 30-40 and break point even more concerning. A second break point was converted and the Canadian back in contention.

Auger-Aliassime continued the momentum and broke once more to win the set 7-5.

Three breaks of serve opened the decider, and Schwartzman led 4-3 with serve to come.  

He saved two break points to lead 5-3, and saved two more when serving for the match, which he won with his first match point. 6-4 5-7 6-4.