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By Chris Oddo | Friday February 5, 2016


18-year-old Sascha Zverev reached the semis at the Open Sud de France by battling past fellow German Michael Berrer, 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-5 on Friday.

More: Three 18-year-old Americans Given Wild Cards into Memphis

Zverev, who battled back from a break down in set three, needed five match points to finally close out the 35-year-old. He advances to face another of the tour’s elder statesmen, 34-year-old Paul-Henri Mathieu, in the semis.

“We both played really well when we had our backs against the wall,” said Zverev, who saved 16 of 18 break points. “He saved four match points, he played unbelievable on those points. It was a great match and big respect to Michael.”


Zverev had to struggle to keep Berrer at bay. After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker he saved all four break points he faced in the second set to force the decider.

In the decider, after battling back from 2-0 down, Zverev had three match points to close it in the tenth game. He couldn’t finish then, but got it done two games later when he struck a forehand winner down the line and raised his arms in triumph.

Zverev reaches his third ATP semifinal, and his first on a hard court.

Zverev owns a 2-1 record vs. Mathieu, with all three of their contests played at the Challenger level. Mathieu defeated Aussie John Millman, 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3.

In the top half of the draw, top-seeded Richard Gasquet moved on with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marcos Baghdatis. The victory marks Gasquet’s first victory over the Cypriot in four meetings. He’ll face either Dustin Brown or Ruben Bemelmans in the final.

 

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