Top seed Alexander Zverev reached his second final in the space of a week in Cologne with a clinical 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over Italian wild card Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals of the bett1HULKS Championship on Saturday.
The German world number seven claimed his first ATP crown of the year after besting Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 to win the bett1HULKS Indoor title at the same venue last Sunday.
Zverev, who was beaten by Sinner in the French Open last-16, made the more nervy start and soon found himself trailing 3-1 in the opening set.
"I was playing a player I just lost to at Roland Garros. That was still in the back of my head. I was not going to lose today," Zverev said.
The German broke Sinner in the seventh game and drew level at 4-4, but neither player was able to hold serve again as the set headed to a tiebreak, where Zverev's booming forehand came to the fore as he sealed the opener.
Zverev tightened his grip on the match with an early break in the second set, and with his potent serve finally firing, raced into a 5-2 lead before closing out the contest with a confident hold to love.
The German will face Diego Schwartzman in Sunday's final after the Argentine second seed survived a spirited fightback from Auger-Aliassime to beat the youngster 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the other semi-final.
Humbert outlasts Evans to set De Minaur clash in Antwerp final
France's Ugo Humbert saved four match points against Briton Dan Evans in the European Open semi-final as he came from behind to win 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 on Saturday, setting up a title clash with eighth seed Alex de Minaur.
After dropping the opening set, Humbert took a 3-0 lead in the second but Evans fought back to take it to a tiebreak. However, the Frenchman mounted his own comeback from 3-6 down and again at 6-7 to force a third.
A break of serve in the opening game of the decider then gave 22-year-old Humbert the advantage and, after three hours and 14 minutes on court, he converted his third match point to move into the final.
"The start of the match wasn't easy as he didn't give me much pace and suddenly he accelerated," Humbert said after he reached the second ATP Tour final of his career.
"I was four match points down but I was mentally strong and I took my opportunities. I remained aggressive and when I won the second set, I knew I'd regained the momentum."
Humbert is the fourth Frenchman to reach the Antwerp final since the tournament started in 2016 and he will be looking to follow in the footsteps of compatriots Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who won the title in 2016 and 2017.
Australia's de Minaur beat fourth seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 6-4 in the other semi-final.
