Tsitsipas earns berth in Hamburg Open final, racking up 12 aces against Garin
6th-ranked Greek seeking 2nd title of 2020 ahead of French Open appearance
Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his impressive tune-up for the French Open by beating clay-court specialist Christian Garin in the Hamburg Open semifinals on Saturday to set up a final against Andrey Rublev.
The sixth-ranked Greek hit 12 aces on his way to winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. That denied Garin his third clay final of the year and ended the Chilean's 5-0 unbeaten record in tour semis.
Tsitsipas' run to the Hamburg final has seen him recover from his third-round exit at the U.S. Open and a first-round elimination in Rome last week in his first clay tournament of the year.
The man standing between Tsitsipas and his second title of 2020 is Andrey Rublev after the Russian beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 in the first semifinal. Sunday's final is scheduled for 6 a.m. ET.
In February, Tsitsipas successfully defended his Open 13 title, defeating Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6–3, 6–4 in Marseille, France.
Rublev overcame Ruud, who has the most clay-court wins on the ATP Tour this year with 15.
Rublev advanced to his third career clay final and seventh overall. Now 24-6 in tour matches this season, he equaled his achievement of reaching the final in Hamburg last year when he lost in three sets to Nikoloz Basilashvili.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime ousted in 2nd round in Germany:
With files from CBC Sports
