Tennis professional Maximilian Marterer has reached a semi-final on the ATP tour for the first time in more than five years. In Antwerp, the 28-year-old from Nuremberg beat Hugo Gaston from France 6:3, 6:2 and is now in the last four for the second time. On Saturday Marterer, who moved into the main draw in Antwerp through qualification, will play against Kazakh Alexander Bublik for a place in his first ATP final.
In May 2018, Marterer lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semi-finals in Munich. If he beats Bublik, he would return to the top 100 in the world rankings. He is currently ranked at number 127. Yannick Hanfmann, however, was eliminated in the quarterfinals. The 31-year-old from Karlsruhe lost to the favored world number seven Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece in two sets 3:6, 3:6.
On the women’s tour, German tennis players Eva Lys and Tamara Korpatsch have each advanced to the semi-finals in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and will meet in a duel for the final. The 28-year-old Korpatsch defeated the Ukrainian Darija Snihur 3:6, 6:2, 6:4 on Friday. Lys then clearly prevailed against the Russian Jekaterina Makarova 6:2, 6:2 in just 71 minutes. The 21-year-old had already defeated the top-seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea during the tournament.
The two players from northern Germany have never reached an individual final on the WTA tour and can hope for the greatest success of their careers. Lys and Korpatsch had not previously met on the professional tour.
