After a hard fight of almost three hours Leonardo Mayer was the first professional to reach the final of the clay court tournament at the Rothenbaum in Hamburg. The unseeded Argentinian defending champion defeated Slovakia’s Jozef Kovalik 6:7 (6:8), 6:4, 7:6 (9:7) in the semi-finals.
In the final of the 1.75 million euro sand court event on Sunday, Mayer will face either Nicolas Jarry (Chile), who had eliminated the top seeded French Open finalist Dominic Thiem (Austria) in the quarter-finals, or the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Mayer had defeated his favourite compatriot Diego Schwartzman (No. 2) 6:3, 4:6, 6:3 the day before – and once again proved that the tournament in Hamburg possesses a special magic for him. The 31-year-old from Buenos Aires has won two individual titles so far in his professional career (since 2003): And both in Hamburg (2014 and 2017).
Against Kovalik, who had eliminated the 17-year-old German hopeful Rudi Molleker (Berlin) in the second round, Mayer showed the better nerves in the end. In the 2:51 match the world ranking 36th made a total of eleven points more than Kovalk (115:104).
The 25-year-old Slovakian (ATP No. 113) could not take the serve off Mayer once and missed his only two break balls.