PUNE, February 8, 2020
Jiri Vesely and Egor Gerasimov will compete in Sunday’s singles final of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune. Vesely battled past No. 2 seed Ricardas Berankis from Lithuania 6-7(8), 7-6(3) 7-6(7) in the stage of the final four.
The unseeded Czech landed 28 aces and saved four match points to prevail after three hours and two minutes.
“I am really happy to be in a final again after almost five years,” said Vesely. “I hope I can keep the momentum. I hope I can use these two matches where I turned the match around and use it as an advantage. I will play with a lot of confidence tomorrow and I will go for it, that’s for sure.”
Vesely will appear in his first ATP Tour championship match in almost five years. He is trying to lift his second career trophy following his maiden triumph at the ASB Classic in Auckland 2015.
A moment to remember for Egor Gerasimov 😄
He reaches his first-ever ATP final in Pune, defeating Duckworth 7-6 6-4! pic.twitter.com/vfv0LOWsAp
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 8, 2020
Later on Saturday, No. 6 seed Gerasimov defeated eighth seed James Duckworth from Australia 7-6(2), 6-4 to reach his maiden final on the ATP Tour. The World No. 90 from Belarus won 55 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 30 minutes.
Gerasimov won the only previous meeting with Vesely in the qualifying of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last year.
