Czech fifth seed Jiri Lehecka came out on top Saturday in a tough match against eighth seed Marcos Giron to claim a spot in the European Open finals in Antwerp, Belgium.
In a match that came in at just under two hours, Lehecka withstood a second-set assault by Giron then broke the American’s serve twice in the deciding set to seal the win, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Lehecka converted three of six break points against Giron.
Meanwhile, Frenchman Hugo Gaston couldn’t build on his quarterfinal upset of the No. 1 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia and fell to unseeded Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-4. The final will be Bautista Agut’s first since January 2023.
BNP Paribas Nordic Open
No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria outlasted Dutch seventh seed Tallon Griekspoor 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to move to the finals in Stockholm, qualifying for his fourth final of the season and hoping to add a second title on the year.
In the semifinal other match, Tommy Paul cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win over three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, who had been looking for his first tournament title on the ATP Tour since May 2017. At 39, Wawrinka was the third-oldest semifinalist at an ATP event since 1990.
Both Paul and Dimitrov are seeking their second Stockholm titles. Paul won in 2021, while Dimitrov’s 2013 win was the first ATP title of his career.
Almaty Open
A day after knocking off the No. 3 seed, Canada’s Gabriel Diallo did the same with No. 4 seed Francisco Cerundolo in Kazakhstan, easily handling the Argentinian with a 6-4, 6-2 win that took just over an hour.
Diallo heads to the final looking for his first ATP tour win. He’ll face Russian third seed Karen Khachanov, who dropped the opening set before climbing his way back to a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4 win over Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic.
Khachanov and Diallo faced each other just two months ago, when Khachanov beat the 23-year-old in his hometown of Montreal, 6-4 6-4, in the first round of the National Bank Open.
— Field Level Media
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