The German Alexander Zverev, seeded number 1, and the Russian Roman Safiullin, 55th in the ATP, will face each other on Tuesday for an unprecedented final at the ATP 250 tournament in Chengdu, China. Safiullin qualified for his first final in a main circuit tournament by beating the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (18th), seed number 2, on Monday in two controlled sets (6-3, 6-4).
Zverev for his part dismissed the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, also in two sets, 6-3, 7-6 (7/2). The German took the Bulgarian’s serve from the start and took the lead, keeping control of the match like a one-sided tie-break for the Hamburger in the second set. Zverev thus continues his good series against Dimitrov, signing a seventh victory in a row while his last defeat in their face-to-face dates back to 2014.
The winner of the Hamburg tournament will face Roman Safiullin on Tuesday in an unprecedented final, whose striking force and serves at more than 220 km/h took him to the final. Safiullin should climb to at least 41st place in the ATP as of next Monday, the best ranking of his professional career which began in 2015.