Daijiworld Media Network - Hamburg

Hamburg, May 23: American sixth seed Tommy Paul produced a stunning comeback to reach the final of the Hamburg Open, defeating Australia’s Alex de Minaur 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in Friday’s semifinal.

Paul appeared on the verge of a straight-sets defeat after dropping the opening set and falling 3-0 behind in the second. However, he completely turned the match around by winning nine consecutive games, shifting momentum decisively in his favour and controlling the remainder of the contest from the baseline.

The victory marks Paul’s 10th ATP Tour-level final and his second on clay this season, following his title triumph in Houston earlier in the year. Despite De Minaur saving 13 of 17 break points, his struggles on second serve proved costly as he won only 44 percent of those points.

Paul will now face qualifier Ignacio Buse in the final. The 22-year-old continued his breakout run with a dominant 6-1, 6-4 win over Aleksandar Kovacevic in just 64 minutes, becoming the first Peruvian man to reach an ATP Tour final since 2007.

In another clay-court semifinal at the Geneva Open, American teenager Learner Tien advanced to his first ATP clay-court final after defeating Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(5) in a tense encounter.

Tien looked in control during the deciding-set tiebreak but briefly lost rhythm, missing four match points before sealing victory on his fifth opportunity. His win made him the youngest Geneva finalist since 1990 and the first American man to reach the final there since the mid-1980s.

He will now face Argentina’s Mariano Navone, who produced a major upset by defeating three-time champion Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-2 in the other semifinal. The winner of the final will secure the second ATP Tour title of their career.