(Reuters) – France’s Ugo Humbert saved four match points against Briton Dan Evans in the European Open semi-final as he came from behind to win 4-6 7-6(7) 6-4 on Saturday, setting up a title clash with eighth seed Alex de Minaur.
After dropping the opening set, Humbert took a 3-0 lead in the second but Evans fought back to take it to a tiebreak. However, the Frenchman mounted his own comeback from 3-6 down and again at 6-7 to force a third.
A break of serve in the opening game of the decider then gave 22-year-old Humbert the advantage and, after three hours and 14 minutes on court, he converted his third match point to move into the final.
“The start of the match wasn’t easy as he didn’t give me much pace and suddenly he accelerated,” Humbert said after he reached the second ATP Tour final of his career.
“I was four match points down but I was mentally strong and I took my opportunities. I remained aggressive and when I won the second set, I knew I’d regained the momentum.”
Humbert is the fourth Frenchman to reach the Antwerp final since the tournament started in 2016 and he will be looking to follow in the footsteps of compatriots Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who won the title in 2016 and 2017.
Australia’s de Minaur beat fourth seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(4) 6-7(3) 6-4 in the other semi-final.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair and Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
