The young players will be honored tomorrow in the final of the Bank Eric Sturdza Geneva Open. Indeed, they are two players of, respectively, 22 and 23 years old who this afternoon have obtained their ticket for the final stage of the tournament.

The day began with a hotly contested doubles match between Fabrice Martin and Andreas Mies, opposed to former world No. 1 contenders Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic. In a super tight tie-break, where each side had a match point in his favor, it was finally Marach and Pavic who won 6-3 3-6 13-11 on a Central court, hot under the midday sun. Tomorrow at 1 pm, they will defend their title against Robert Lindstedt and Matthew Ebden.

Then followed the first semifinal singles, which pitted the No. 5 seed of the tournament Radu Albot against the tall guy- 1m98! – Chilean Nicolas Jarry. The Moldovan has not done much against the excellent service and the formidable forehand of his young opponent. Nicolas Jarry delivered the match in just over an hour, 6-3 6-4.

It was then time to decide between the world No. 5, Alexander Zverev, and the Argentine Federico Delbonis. The young German did not fail to remember his tournament favorite status. Facing difficulty many times by a fierce opponent, “Sascha” demonstrated a foolproof determination to find solutions in important moments. Alexander Zverev will play his first Bank Eric Sturdza Geneva Open final tomorrow at 15:30, and he hopes to win. “I came to regain confidence, but I’m playing to win,” the winner of the London Masters 2018 firmly said. Here it is, the  announcement for the great Saturday afternoon of sport at the Tennis Club Eaux-Vives for the finals of this fifth edition of Bank Eric Sturdza Geneva Open.

He did the job! Without touching the genius but with exemplary skill, Alexander Zverev escaped the trap set by Hugo Dellien (ATP 92). Taking victory 7-5 3-6 6-3 from the Bolivian, the world No. 5 has demonstrated to the Geneva public his firm will to pluck the title on Saturday.

“Tennis is very easy when you play well. But if, on the other hand, you are not having a great day, it becomes a very complicated sport”, stresses Alexander Zverev, who makes no secret of the reality of his form. He still did not meet his expectations. The winner of the last Masters will however have the opportunity to take another step forward on Friday in his semifinal against Federico Delbonis, hard winner over Albert Ramos-Vinolas, at the end of the night.

The semi-final at the bottom of the table will pit Nicolas Jarry (ATP 75) against Radu Albot (ATP 45). The Chilean and Moldovan were talking before about the logic of classification, respectively, Taro Daniel (ATP 107) and Damir Dzumhur (ATP 57), the “executioner” of Stan Wawrinka.

This duel between Jarry and Albot will be unprecedented. It will bring together two players who offer a very nice opposition of style, between the power of the Chilean and the flat game of the Moldavian. To nominate a favorite for this match seems very difficult, even if Radu Albot has given off a very beautiful impression from the beginning of the week.

A thunderclap on the Bank Eric Sturdza Geneva Open! Winner of the tournament in 2016 and 2017, Stan Wawrinka fell from the outset. The Vaudois was defeated 3-6 6-3 6-4 by Damir Dzumuhr (ATP 57). Just out of qualifications, the Bosnian exploited the lack of regularity in the No. 2 seed’s play, to reach the quarterfinals.

This day that bathed in sunshine and followed by a large audience has also made others victims of the brand. Therefore, titleholder, Marton Fucsovics (ATP 38) has been beaten 6-4 6-2 by Argentine Federico Delbonis (ATP 84). Seeded No. 3, the Chilean Christian Garin (ATP 37), like Stan Wawrinka and Marton Fucsovics, was eliminated in his first match on the clay at Eaux-Vives, beaten 6-2 4-6 6-4 by the Japanese player, Taro Daniel (ATP 137).

After the defeats of Stan Wawrinka and Christian Garin, the Bank Eric Sturdza Geneva Open will present an unexpected finalist Saturday. It will come from the quartet formed of the Moldovan Radut Albot (ATP 45), the Chilean Nicolas Jarry (ATP 75), Damir Dzumhur and Taro Daniel. On the eve of the quarter finals, it’s hard to guess which of the four will still be in contention for the title Saturday. It is also the magic of tennis!

He has taken to his No. 1 seeded status with class and panache. “Sascha” Zverev won 6-2 6-1 with ease, in just over an hour against Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Earlier in the day, another winner of the London Masters did not have the same success and left through the back door.

Grigor Dimitrov failed to link the success. After brilliantly coming out of the qualifiers, the Bulgarian, who has just turned 28, did not hold out against the Argentinean clay specialist, Federico Delbonis. He had won the first set 6-1, but did not find the solutions he needed afterwards. Delbonis, who will meet the 2018 finalist Marton Fucsovics in the second round, won 1-6 6-4 6-2.

To start the night session with some delay (the matches lasted longer than expected, to the delight of the audience!), Alexander Zverev was highly anticipated. The world number 5 made short work of his opponent of the day, Ernests Gulbis, pocketing an “easy” win. The 22-year-old German is thrilled to find his bearings in an arena that reminds him of Munich, both in the atmosphere and in the climate.

In other games of the day, Joao Sousa defeated Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in three sets, 6-2 6-7 6-4. Qualified Damir Dzumhur also continued his fine epic duel by winning a hard fought (6-7 6-4 7-5) against the almost veteran Feliciano Lopez. Finally, to close this long day, the Bolivian Hugo Dellien pocketed his ticket to the quarterfinals against Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 6-3.

We knew the weather would be temperamental this week at Parc des Eaux-Vives. And today it did not disappoint, as the matches had to be suspended and some even postponed. Grigor Dimitrov will play his first round tomorrow, as will Johann Nikles of Geneva in doubles with Nenad Zimonjic.

The matches were interrupted for a few hours this afternoon, but they were able to resume again to the delight of the South Americans, the big hitters of the top seeds. In effect, the Bolivian Hugo Dellien first beat the Italian Andreas Seppi (No. 8) in three sets (6-1 3-6 6-4) and was joined soon after in the second round by Chilean Nicolas Jarry, winning 6-2 7-6 (4) against No. 7 of the tournament, the Australian Matthew Ebden.

Following the evening’s match cancellations, that are Janko Tipsarevic and 2018 finalist, Peter Gojowczyk, who found themselves headlining this wet and relatively cool – 11 ° Monday night shown on the board, definitely not worthy of weather a month of May! Against all expectations, it is the former world No. 8, dropped to the 317^th place of the ATP ranking, who won the match 7-5 7-5 against a slightly transparent German.

So it will be a big day tomorrow, as the world No. 5 Alexander Zverev will face the Latvian Ernests Gulbis at 6pm. Earlier in the day, on the Centre court, the matches between Grigor Dimitrov against Federico Delbonis, then Feliciano Lopez against Damir Dzumhur should not be missed.