Daniil Medvedev finished the glory hopes of the family’s favourite Alexander Zverev grass court with a 7-6 (3), 6-7 (1), 6-4 victory on the semi-final Saturday of the Halle Open.
Medvedev recovered from wasting three match points with Zverev’s serve 5-6 in the second set, taking over his old rival nearly three hours to reach his first final in 15 months.
“When I got my second break, I might have done much better, but that’s normal,” Medvedev said. “The same thing happened in the third set. When I took a break, he started playing better and went back better. In the third set, I’m glad that I managed to save those breakpoints and managed to make up and manage.”
Medvedev’s fourth straight victory over Zverev extended the lead to 13-7.
The Russian player will face Alexander Babrik, who defeated top-ranked Janik Sinner in the final on Sunday. 2023 champion Bublik fired 18 aces after beating Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6 (5) and 6-4 in the other semi-finals.
“This was the biggest title of my career here, but now I have a shot in my second career,” Bublik said.
Medvedev has not played in the final since losing to Indian Wells’ Carlos Alcaraz in March 2024. Whatever the result of the final, Medvedev will return to the top ten in the world on Monday.
Zverev, who had been bidding to reach the Hale Finals for the third time, will have to wait for his first title in Grass.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to the report.
