TROISDORF/STARNBERG, June 3, 2023
Ivan Gakhov and Frederico Ferreira Silva will compete in Sunday’s singles final of the Saturn Oil Open in Troisdorf, Germany. Gakhov knocked out fellow Russian Pavel Kotov, top seed of the ATP Challenger Tour 75 clay-court event, 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1 in the stage of the last four on Saturday.
The World No. 175 struck six aces and won 82 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after two hours and four minutes. “I started nervously, then Pavel played great in the tie-break. In the second and third set I got better and better and was able to play in my comfort zone,” said Gakhov.
Earlier in the day, Ferreira Silva ended the run of Indian lucky loser Sumit Nagal, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. The 28-year-old Portuguese capitalized on five of his 10 break-point chances to secure victory in two hours and 29 minutes.
Beautiful backhand lob from Frederico Ferreira Silva 👏
The 🇵🇹 advances to the 4th #ATPChallenger final of his career after defeating Nagal in Troisdorf! pic.twitter.com/YhMy5iYCSm
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) June 3, 2023
“Ferreira Silva was always the one who was pushing and was wide awake in the decisive moments,” said organiser and tournament director Marc Raffel.
Gakhov is seeking his second ATP Challenger career crown following his maiden triumph in Girona, Spain in early April. Ferreira Silva, a winner of 16 singles titles on the Pro Circuit, could lift his maiden trophy on the Challenger Tour. Gakhov won the only previous meeting between the two lefties at an ITF Futures event in Spain 10 years ago.
