Dominion, confusion and resurrection. It was the phases that he lived Alexander Davidovich (21 years old) in his quarterfinal match madness of the Cologne ATP 250 against the Austrian Dennis Novak. After a tough battle of 1 hour and 55 minutes, the Malaga native managed to seal his ticket to the semifinals of the German tournament for a score of 6-3, 2-6 and 6-3.
The first set was quite a lesson in tenacity by Davidovich. The man from Malaga conceded a 0-2 start, but his face was overflowing with tranquility. He recovered, but hesitated with another break against when he had put the tie in the light. From that moment, Davidovich was unflappable and chained four consecutive games who gave him the set (3-6), with a final blank serve.
Alex's streak soon came to an end. After a marathon first game where the Spanish got the break on his fourth chance, he got stuck again with the subsequent serve to consolidate his advantage. He lost it blank. It was time to continue rowing, and more so when three double faults completely blocked the Spanish head, who delivered the second set without winning a single serve.
Davidovich's short-circuit remained clear at the beginning of the third set, with a new break against and 2-0 down. But if the man from Malaga has something, it is courage. It resurfaced again with a break to put end to a bleeding end of 7 consecutive games Novak and get fully into the game. The reaction was tremendous, demonstrating an enviable physical power to reach impossible balls. The left-handers, the star of Malaga's hit, also worked in the final stretch to lead him to victory. Second semifinal of his sports career on the ATP circuit, after Estoril. Now only Alexander Zverev (he beat Harris 6-4, 3-6 and 6-0) separates him from his first final …
Bautista also advances
The other Spaniard in contention also did his homework. And is that Roberto Bautista beat the Polish Hubert Hurkacz in 2 hours and 31 minutes by a score of 7-6, 5-7 and 6-0. The Castellón clearly dominated the first set, but his arm shrunk at the key moment, when he had a serve to close the set with 5-4 up. He gave up his serve, but kept his composure to win the set in the tiebreaker.
The second set was more even, with no breaks until the decisive moment. Hurkacz achieved the break in the eleventh game and left the Spaniard with no room for maneuver (5-7). But the third was soon opted for Bautista, who did not accuse the emotional blow of the previous set. He broke the break in the Pole's first turn of service and no longer let that initial 3-0 lead slip away, unfortunately for a Hurkacz who ended up physically exhausted. His rival in the semifinals will be Auger-Aliassime, that completely swept Albot: 6-3 and 6-0.