Flavio Koboli came from the set on Friday to beat Thomas Martin Etchellie 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the Hamburg Open Final, where he will face Andrei Lubreviff.
Koboli found himself chasing 3-1 in the second set, but fought to reach the second final of the season.
Lubrev, who won Hamburg in 2020 and finalist in 2019, will bid for the second title of the year after he eased Canada’s Felix Auger Alicim 6-1, 6-4 in the past and won the Qatar Open.
Claycourt specialist Etcheverry scored his first breakpoint in his sixth game, turning the third opportunity to 4-2.
He then broke Kobori and ranked 35th in the world. The Italian (who had 18 forced errors at that stage, three times the opponent) double-faulted at Etcheverry’s third set point.
Etcheverry first maintained pressure, slamming the ball deep, and one shot landed flat at the baseline, breaking his opponent again, taking a 3-1 lead early in the second set.
However, no Kobori was done, but reduced the number of errors and locked Echcharlie at baseline at longer meetings.
He broke World No. 55 twice to raise 6-5, helping him grab the second set.
Both players served in the decision set from Cobolli’s break 5-4 until they converted their first match point.
The main attraction of the French opening will begin on Sunday at Roland Garos. There, Lublev came in 17th place.
Reuters contributed to this report.
