Russian Dmitry Tursunov reached the final of the Thailand Open with a nail-biting 7-6 4-6 6-4 victory over Fernando Verdasco of Spain.
Russian overcomes Spaniard in marathon semi
Russian Dmitry Tursunov reached the final of the Thailand Open with a nail-biting 7-6 4-6 6-4 victory over Fernando Verdasco of Spain.
The world number 29, who won in Indianapolis two months ago before losing three successive first round matches, will take on Benjamin Becker in Sunday's final.
The sixth seed duelled with the eighth-ranked Verdasco in an hour-long first set, claiming early mini-breaks in the tie-breaker before closing it out with an overhead winner.
The Spaniard then kept himself in the match by saving two break points at 4-4 in the second, breaking Tursanov in the next to level the match.
Mistakes
Tursanov hit back early in the decider, breaking twice before Verdasco got one back, but after nearly two-and-a-half hours the Russian clinched the victory on his third match point.
"I got tense in the third set," he admitted. "We were not playing very clean tennis the entire match and there were a lot of mistakes on return.
"His forehand is a huge weapon and he will punish you. When he gets desperate he starts going for huge shots and it's like a snowball effect."
Unseeded Becker overcame the loss of the first set to knock out third seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 3-6 6-4 6-4.
