No. 1 seed Andrey Rublev will face second-seeded Luciano Darderi in the Nordea Open final Sunday after both prevailed in three sets in their semifinal matches Saturday in Bastad, Sweden.
The Russian Rublev defeated No. 3 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, while Italy’s Darderi held off unseeded Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay 6-4, 6-7 (11), 6-3. The 28-year-old Rublev, who won at Bastad in 2023, will go for his 18th ATP Tour title, while the 24-year-old Darderi — the event’s defending champion — will seek his sixth career victory.
Advancing to his 30th tour-level final, Rublev won 77.6% of his first-serve points (38 of 49) and posted 12 aces, including three in the final set. Tabilo saved 10 of 13 break points and three match points in a losing effort.
Darderi converted his 13th set point to take the first set, then let three match points slip away in a second-set tiebreak as Vallejo rallied to force a third set. Overall, Darderi saved seven of eight break points and converted three of five break point opportunities.
EFG Swiss Open Gstaad
No. 7 seed Raphael Collignon of Belgium and unseeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece will meet in Sunday’s final after each won their semifinal matches in three sets at Gstaad, Switzerland.
Collignon, heading to his first ATP Tour final, saved a match point before upending No. 6 seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Spain 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, while Tsitsipas took down Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The 24-year-old Collignon saved a match point on serve at 3-5 in the second set, then broke back en route to a tiebreaker victory. Down 2-5 in the decisive set, Collignon won five straight games to secure the win.
Back in an ATP Tour final for the first time in 16 months, Tsitsipas — the former World No. 3 and 12-time tour-level champion — displayed his dominant serve in the third set to pull away. In that set, he dropped just one of 12 first-serve points.
–Field Level Media
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