Fonseca enters Basel final; Bencic sets up title showdown with Noskova

Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca overcame Spain’s Jaume Munar 7-6(4) 7-5 on Saturday to reach his first ATP 500 final at the Swiss Indoors Championships in Basel, setting up a title clash with eighth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Playing in his second tour-level semi-final of the year, the 19-year-old Fonseca hammered down eight aces and struck 39 winners during the contest.

“I knew that it was going to be a tough match, Jaume is playing (well) on this surface,” said world number 46 Fonseca. “He’s putting a lot of pressure and you need to defend a lot of the time.

“I don’t like playing against those guys because I like to play aggressive and go for winners.

“I’m happy with how I stayed mentally after an early break in the second set. I’m very happy, so let’s stay hyped for the final.”

The opening set was closely contested, with little to separate the pair before Fonseca edged ahead in the tiebreak, clinching a 4-3 lead and eventually taking the set.

Munar, 28, began the second set brightly, racing to a 4-2 advantage, but Fonseca showed resilience to level the score at 4-4. The youngster then claimed three of the next four games to seal the victory and advance to the final.

Fonseca, who is chasing his second tour-level title after lifting his maiden trophy in Buenos Aires in February, could break into the Top-30 for the first time if he defeats Davidovich Fokina in Sunday’s showdown.

“It’s been an amazing year, starting at number 130 in the world, now 40-something and into a first ATP 500 final,” Fonseca said.

In the second semi-final, Spain’s Davidovich Fokina advanced to his fourth final of the season after Frenchman Ugo Humbert retired while trailing 7-6(4) 3-1.

Jannik Sinner beat Alex de Minaur in straight sets at the Vienna Open on Saturday to reach his eighth final of the year.

The Italian top seed downed De Minaur 6-3, 6-4 to record his 12th win in as many meetings with the Australian.

He faces Alexander Zverev for the title after the German second seed beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 7-5 in the other semi-final.

Sinner, 24, is chasing his fourth title of the campaign following wins at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and in Beijing earlier this month.

Sinner is the first man since Novak Djokovic in 2015-16 to appear in eight finals in successive seasons.

This year, he has lost four of those finals to Carlos Alcaraz and is trying to stay in the hunt with the Spaniard for the year-end number one ranking. Both players are in the draw for the final Masters 1000 event of the season in Paris next week.

He momentarily allowed De Minaur back into the match in the second set when dropping serve in the sixth game, before breaking again and wrapping up his 20th straight win on indoor hard courts.

Meanwhile, Belinda Bencic reached her second Pan Pacific Open final a decade after her first with a hard-fought 7-6(5) 3-6 6-2 win over American Sofia Kenin on Saturday, booking a title clash with Linda Noskova, who advanced via a walkover.

Playing under the centre court roof of the Ariake Coliseum due to rain, both players stayed strong on serve in the opening 12 games before Swiss Bencic turned up the intensity in a tight tiebreak to take the opening set with a forehand winner.

Former Australian Open champion Kenin wiped the slate clean and came out firing to bag a break in the fourth game of the second set and overcame a minor wobble on her own delivery in the next game to eventually draw level in the contest.

Bencic, the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist, broke for a 3-1 lead in the decider after some sloppy play by Kenin, and the 28-year-old rode the momentum to wrap up the victory and stay on course for her second title of the season.

Earlier, Elena Rybakina pulled out of her clash against Noskova with a back injury, a day after the Kazakh secured the last qualifying spot for next month’s season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh by reaching the Tokyo semi-finals.

Agencies