Feliciano Lopez edged out Mischa Zverev 6-7(2) 7-6(4) 7-5 to reach Sunday’s Mercedes Cup Final, where he will meet Lucas Pouille who knocked out compatriot Benoit Paire 7-6(5) 7-5.
The first Semi-Final of the day saw two serve and volleyers in Feliciano Lopez and Mischa Zverev. Two men who will thrive on this time of year and were eager to gain some valuable ranking points going into the rest of the season. The Spaniard, who has struggled this season, didn’t even allow his German opponent to have a break point opportunity in the match as he made sure that all the pressure was on Zverev’s serve. The home favourite made sure that he didn’t falter either as the first two sets advanced to a tiebreak. Zverev took the first 7-2 and Lopez took the second 7-4. The final set looked like it was going to another tiebreak in a boring match for the neutral fan. However Lopez used his veteran instincts to create some break points and on one of them the German produced a double fault to hand Lopez the match and a place in Sunday’s final.
After the contest Lopez admitted that the match could of swung the other way, “The match was so close from the beginning to the end. I was able to connect on great returns in the last game.” The Spaniard will now play Lucas Pouille in the final who overcame fellow Frenchman Benoit Paire in the second Semi-Final. Like the first match, there was only break of serve in it as the fourth seed came through 7-6(5) 7-5 in a tight contest.
So the final sees Lucas Pouille play Feliciano Lopez, the two players have met twice before in which the head to head record is 1-1. Pouille will go for his second title of the season, whereas Lopez wll go for his first of the season and his sixth title of his career.
