Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz has reached the final of the Genova challenger this week.
The former world number 14 beat third seed Carlos Berlocq 3-6 7-5 7-6(4) to reach the final on clay. He also beat the second seed Horacio Zeballos en route to his incredible run in Italy. He will face top seed Nicolas Almagro, who also came through a tough semi-final beating seventh seed Adam Pavlasek 6-0 2-6 6-4 to reach the final. Their head to head record is at 1-1, making the case for an interesting final later on today.
Meanwhile in Seville young Norwegian qualifier Casper Ruud took the title. The young 17-year-old beat third seed and proven clay courter Taro Daniel 6-3 6-4. The Norwegian broke Daniel four times en route to his first challenger title. Earlier in the week he also defeated top seed Inigo Cervantes in what was his first ever Challenger tournament. Ruud has now taken a wildcard into next week’s challenger in Szczecin and will rise to a new career high of 273rd in the world.
In other challenger events, Diego Schwartzman progresses to the Barranquilla final where he will face third seed Rogerio Dutra Silva. Schwartzman broke Santiago Giraldo eight times in the semi-finals to beat the Colombian, while Dutra Silva thrashed Maximo Gonzalez 6-3 6-1. In Alphen, Robin Haase will play Jan-Lennard Struff in the final. Haase beat compatriot Thiemo De Bakker 6-3 6-1 to advance to the final. While Struff beat Damir Dzumhur, the German was 4-0 up in the final set before the Bosnian retired due to a right shoulder injury.
In Shanghai the final will be between Jason Jung and Henri Laaksonen. Jung beat top seed Jordan Thompson 6-4 6-4, in a match where the Australian failed to carve out a single break point. In the other semi-final Henri Laaksonen beat Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-3 7-5, Laaksonen looked strong on serve winning 78% of first serve points won. Finally in St.Remy Daniil Medvedev will play Joris De Loore in the final. Medvedev beat Mirza Basic 3-6 7-5 7-6(4) in the semi-finals, while De Loore beat second seed Konstatin Kravchuk 7-6(3) 3-6 6-0. De Loore broke three times on his way to victory.
All the remaining finals will take place on Sunday, whilst the Shanghai challenger has been delayed until Monday.
