Alexander Zverev has moved to one win away from a third title in his native Germany and will play Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final of the Cologne Indoors tournament.
Top-seeded Zverev, the US Open finalist, defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5 7-6 (7-3) in the semi-finals.
The 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime also beat a Spanish opponent, second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, 6-3 1-6 6-3.
The Canadian, tipped to be one of the next big stars of the game, will be going for his first title in Sunday’s final – his sixth – while Zverev is bidding to make up for some of the disappointment of losing at Flushing Meadows to Dominic Thiem.
Zverev laughed ruefully that he still thinks about it “20 to 25 times a day.”
The Cologne Indoors is the first of two consecutive competitions the city is hosting as part of the ATP calendar which was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.