Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime will hope to end a wretched run of five defeats in five finals when he faces German top seed Alexander Zverev for the Cologne ATP title on Sunday.
Auger-Aliassime, seeded third, reached his sixth career final with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in over second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut.
Zverev is just one win from claiming his third ATP Tour title on home soil after making his 20th final by seeing off Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).
“I’ve practised with him many times back home... Hopefully tomorrow I can give myself chances to win. It’s going to be a great battle,” Auger-Aliassime told atptour.com.
“We’ve already played twice and for sure it’s the start of our careers and we’re going to play many times. This is our first final playing and hopefully not the last.”
Rublev edges ATP Finals rival in St Petersburg
Russia’s Andrey Rublev edged closer to a maiden appearance in the ATP Finals on Saturday when he defeated fellow London season-finale hopeful Denis Shapovalov to reach the Saint Petersburg final.
Rublev, the third seed, came back to defeat the second-seeded Canadian 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“The match was unreal, in my opinion,” said Rublev who moves ahead of Diego Schwartzman into eighth position in the race to London.
“The level was high from both sides. Both of us deserved to win.”
Just two qualification positions remain vacant for the ATP Finals, to be held from November 15-22.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev have already qualified for the elite eight-man event.
In Sunday’s final in Saint Petersburg, Rublev will target his fourth title of 2020 when he faces last year’s runner-up Borna Coric.
The Croatian defeated 2015 champion Milos Raonic 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in his semi-final.
