It was second time fortunate for Brandon Nakashima on the Subsequent Gen ATP Finals.
Nakashima fell on the semifinal stage final 12 months however the American participant stayed excellent this week when he beat third-seeded Jack Draper of Britain 4-3 (6), 1-4, 4-2, 4-3 (5) on Friday to succeed in the ultimate, the place he’ll face Czech participant Jiří Lehečka.
“I’m positively wanting ahead to the ultimate tomorrow,” Nakashima stated. “Final 12 months I had a tricky match within the semis however I believe I’ve grown rather a lot as a participant. I’m simply completely satisfied to see all of the arduous work paying off.”
It was a hard-fought semifinal and Draper managed to avoid wasting one match level with an ace to take the fourth set to a tiebreak. However Nakashima sealed the victory on the second time of asking when Draper despatched a forehand large.
The fourth-seeded Nakashima, who misplaced to fellow American and eventual runner-up Sebastian Korda final 12 months, served 15 aces and saved 5 of the six break factors he confronted.
“Very robust match. I believed each of us have been enjoying such top quality proper from the start,” Nakashima stated. “I had a match level however he hit an awesome serve and I couldn’t do something about it so I’m simply completely satisfied to have stayed targeted within the tiebreak and tremendous completely satisfied to shut it out.”
Nakashima has received all 4 of his matches on the year-ending match for 21-and-under gamers, together with a straight-sets victory over Lehečka within the group stage.
Dominic Stricker additionally received his three group stage matches in Milan however was eradicated by the fifth-seeded Lehečka earlier Friday.
Lehečka was dominant from the outset as he eased to a 4-1, 4-3 (4), 2-4, 4-1 victory in 82 minutes.
After dropping the third set, Lehečka broke Stricker within the opening sport of the fourth and by no means regarded again, sealing the match when Stricker hit a return large.
That is the fifth version of the occasion, which options shorter units of first-to-four video games and different experimental format modifications. New guidelines embody no changeovers after the primary sport of every set and just one sit-down per set after three video games; a 15-second serve clock after aces, double-faults and unreturned serves; and training throughout an opponent’s medical timeout or rest room break.
