Juan Martin Del Potro kept his unlikely London hopes alive with a 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(1) win over Fernando Verdasco in Stockholm.
The win means the tall Argentinian has reached his second consecutive Stockholm final and will look to successfully defend his title in tomorrow’s final.
The World number 19 came back from a break down at 2-0 in the final set to overcome his Spanish opponent in 2 hours and 42 minutes.
Del Potro will still need to make deep runs in Basel and Paris if he wants to make the season ending finale in London as he is 570 points behind eighth placed Pablo Carreno Busta.
Despite hitting 10 aces, Verdasco fell to his 24th defeat of the season in agonising circumstances as he has only reached one ATP final in 2017.
The Argentinian will now face Grigor Dimitrov for the Stockholm title as the Bulgarian eased past controversial Italian, 6-3 7-6(2).
The world number 9 broke three times in an accomplished performance to reach his fourth final of the 2017 season, the Bulgarian has won his past three finals in Brisbane, Sofia and Cincinnati.
The Italian had no answer to Dimitrov’s efficient serving as he exits an ATP tournament at the Semi-Final stage for the third time this season.
Dimitrov, who is on the verge of reaching his first ATP finals in London, said he found it very tricky to break down the Italian.
“It’s very tricky playing against Fabio. After such a good first set from me, he took the lead in the second, so I had to uplift myself a little bit, trying to stay as positive as I can, and it was a great tie-break as well.”
Dimitrov currently trails his current head to head with Del Potro 5-2 heading into tomorrow’s crunch clash in Sweden.
The Tsitsipas Dream Ends In Antwerp
Meanwhile in Antwerp, Stefanos Tsitsipas’s dream run has ended at the hands of Diego Schwartzman as he appeared in his first ATP World Tour Semi-Final.
The Greek youngster lost 6-3 7-5 in 1 hour and 26 minutes to the in form Argentinian as the 19 year old will enter the World’s top 100 on Monday.
Schwartzman broke Tsitsipas five times as he will compete in his first ATP final of the season. The Argentinian used his athleticism to complete his 36th win of his 2017 season.
He will now play Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in the final as he beat Belgian hope Ruben Bemelmans 6-3 6-3 in 1 hour and 13 minutes.
Tsonga broke twice as he moved into his fourth final of the season. He also had a taster of what kind of opposition he faces in November when France play Belgium in the Davis Cup final in Lille.
Tsonga and Schwartzman will meet for the first time in tomorrow’s final.
