Joao Sousa is an ATP Tour finalist once again as he showcased his fighting qualities to end Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer’s fairytale run in a mammoth battle at the Tata Open Maharashtra.
With his back against the wall, the 32-year-old saved three match points to claw past Ymer 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-5 to reach his 11th tour-level final in Pune. It is the first time Sousa has advanced to this stage at an ATP Tour event since 2018 when he triumphed in Estoril.
“It means a lot,” Sousa said in his on-court interview. “The past two years were very tough for me, [with] a lot of things going through my mind. It means a lot to me to be in the final again. Thank you so much guys. The atmosphere was unbelievable tonight. This is why you want to play tennis. On the three match points, I just kept believing and somehow I found a way to turn it around.”
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In a dramatic match, Sousa recovered from squandering a 4-1 lead in the second set as he raised the intensity in his groundstrokes in the tie-break to level. The World No. 137 then saved three match points on serve in the third set at 4-5, before he broke to advance after three hours and 15 minutes in a mammoth battle.
The Portuguese man has now extended his perfect ATP Head2Head record against Ymer to 4-0 and will be aiming to win his fourth tour-level trophy in the championship match on Sunday against Emil Ruusuvuori.
Ymer, who earned his first Top 20 win against World No. 15 Aslan Karatsev en route to the last four, was competing in his maiden tour-level semi-final. The Swedish qualifier had not been beyond the quarter-final stage at a tour-level event since 2016 (Gstaad) prior to this week.
Ymer will now turn his attention to the Open Sud de France, where his younger brother Mikael Ymer will aim to overcome Alexander Zverev and reach his second tour-level final in Montpellier.
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Earlier, sixth seed Ruusuvuori broke new ground, soaring into his first tour-level final in Pune.
The Finn fired 10 aces and rallied back from a break down in the second set to overcome Kamil Majchrzak 6-4, 7-6(0) in one hour and 47 minutes, improving his ATP Head2Head record to 2-0 against the Pole.
“I really like this place,” Ruusuvuori said in his on-court interview. “I still haven’t lost a set. The whole match was very good today and I am very happy to be in the final. Every point in the tie-break is very important. I started well and 7/0 is good.”
Ruusuvuori, who is making his debut at the ATP 250 event, was competing in his second semi-final of the season, having advanced to the last four at the Melbourne Summer Set in January, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. The World No. 87 is now 7-2 on the year.
Prior to his win against Majchrzak, the 22-year-old had lost all four of his previous semi-finals at this level. The World No. 87 held his nerve in Pune in the second-set tie-break to ensure he would not fall at the same stage again.
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/ruusuvuori-ymer-sousa-pune-2022-saturday
