METZ, September 22, 2017

Peter Gojowczyk and Mischa Zverev set an all-German-semi-final at the Moselle Open held at Les Arènes in Metz. Gojowczyk, the first qualifier to reach the stage of the final eight at the ATP 250 event since Igor Sijsling in 2011, eased past Marius Copil of Romania 6-2, 6-4 on Friday afternoon.

The 28-year-old from Munich sent down eight aces, winning 76 per cent of his first service points to secure victory in only 55 minutes.

Gojowczyk advanced to his second ATP World Tour semi-final of the year. In July, he reached the the stage of the final four in Newport, where he lost to Matthew Ebden.

Zverev defeated French lucky loser Kenny de Schepper, who replaced the actual top seed of the tournament Pablo Carreno Busta, 7-5, 7-6. The fifth favourite capitalized on three of his five break point chances to prevail after one hour and 31 minutes. Zverev, who made his first ATP World Tour final showing in Metz in 2010 as a qualifier,will meet Gojowczky for the third time. The latter emerged victorious in both previous matches at the ATP Challenger in Salzburg in 2011 as well as at the qualifying of the Australian Open 2014.

In the evening session, Benoit Paire saved one match point to knock off the tournament’s number two David Goffin of Belgium 7-6, 5-7, 7-6. The 28-year-old Frenchman fired 20 aces and won five points more than his opponent to finish the encounter after two hours and 24 minutes.

In the pair’s first tour meeting, Nikoloz Basilashvili beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-5, 6-3. The World No. 64 from Georgia saved all four break points he faced, converting three of his own to advance to his fourth semi-final of the season after one hour and 25 minutes.