Tennis player Alexander Shevchenko reached the final of an ATP tournament for the first time in his career
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Alexander Shevchenko reached the final of an ATP tournament for the first time in his career. On Friday, the Russian tennis player, competing at the 250 category tournament in Metz, beat the Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert with a score of 6:4, 6:4. This victory will allow Shevchenko to enter the top 50 of the rankings for the first time in his career.
Alexander Shevchenko can boast of serious progress this season. He started the season in 154th position in the ranking, and towards its end he came close to the top 60. At the same time, however, 22-year-old Shevchenko still did not have any bright moments before the tournament in Metz. Actually, in the main draws of ATP tournaments or at the Grand Slam championships, Shevchenko rarely managed to win at least two matches in a row, and the points that allowed him to move up in the rankings were obtained through good performances at the Challengers. However, at the end of October at the ATP 500 series tournament in Basel, signs appeared that Shevchenko would still be able to show something memorable at the end of the season. There he reached the quarterfinals, where, although he lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime, he still made the representative of the top 20 ranking very nervous and clawed out victory in tiebreakers. And this week Shevchenko took another step forward at the ATP 250 category tournament. So far – the biggest in my career.
In French Metz, Shevchenko overcame two starting rounds, and it seemed that he would again hit the wall. After all, in the quarterfinals he went up against third seed Karen Khachanov.
The favorite in the confrontation between Russian tennis players (it is possible that Shevchenko played in a purely Russian confrontation for the last time, since he has already received the citizenship of Kazakhstan and intends to play for this country in the future) seemed to be obvious, but the pre-match forecasts did not come true at all. Shevchenko won in straight sets.
His opponent in the semifinals was the Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, an experienced tennis player, on the one hand, but not at all as dangerous as Khachanov, on the other. Actually, 32-year-old Erber is primarily a doubles specialist. He has solid achievements there. Namely, more than two dozen tournaments won, including a full set of Grand Slam championships (Herber won Roland Garros twice and the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open once each). Yes, Erber has been trying to achieve something in singles for several years now (in 2019 he rose to his highest position, 36th in the rankings), but lately it hasn’t worked out for him in singles, and in the world classification it is in the middle of the fourth hundred.
So in Friday’s confrontation with Shevchenko, the Frenchman’s doubles specialization was felt. At times it seemed that he forgot that in singles the court was narrower, and therefore he hit some very long outs.
Shevchenko could not help but take advantage of such gifts from his opponent. He immediately made two breaks, led 4:1 and, even though Erber returned one break, he did not lose control of the situation. Some concern, however, was caused by the fact that towards the end of the game Erber’s serve went wrong. In one of the games, he even issued three aces in a row. But she never became a real trump card in his hands. And as soon as the French tennis player put the ball into play a little less sharply, Shevchenko very competently involved his opponent in an exchange of blows, forcing him to make mistakes. It’s interesting that Erber even managed to play at the net (a mandatory skill for a greenhouse) every once in a while. As a result, Shevchenko won a natural victory with a score of 6:4, 6:4 and reached the final of an ATP tournament for the first time in his career. And as a bonus there is a guaranteed entry into the top 50 of the rating.
Shevchenko will compete for the title with the winner of the match between Italian Fabio Fognini and Frenchman Hugo Amber.
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