Philipp Kohlschreiber will attempt to lift his second Generali Open trophy on Saturday in his hometown of Kitzbühel. The German will look to add to his 2015 crown against Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the final.
Sousa will take a 2-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head lead into the final, but the pair has never met on clay. Kohlschreiber did beat Sousa 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle two months ago.
The 33-year-old Kohlschreiber booked his spot in a 17th ATP World Tour title match after he knocked out second-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-3 in 90 minutes on Friday afternoon. Kohlschreiber, who broke serve four times, is now 6-2 lifetime against last week’s J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad champion.
"I'm happy with how I played today," said Kohlschreiber. "I returned extremely well and Fabio was maybe a little bit less aggressive than usual. Kitzbühel feels very special to me since I live here and I get a lot of support from the crowd."
Kohlschreiber finished runner-up to #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric in April at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech and his seventh – and last trophy – came in May 2016 at the BMW Open by FWU in Munich (d. Thiem).
Joao Sousa ended the run of World No. 157 and #NextGenATP Austrian wild card Sebastian Ofner, who hit 10 aces, 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in just under two hours. Sousa won six of the first seven points in the first set tie-break.
"It was a great atmosphere today, it almost felt like a Davis Cup tie," said Sousa. "I'm extremely happy to be in the final. I wanted to come here for many years and it's great I finally made it this year."
The 28-year-old Sousa, who finished runner-up to Jack Sock in the ASB Classic final in January, is 2-6 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals, with his last trophy coming in November 2015 at Valencia (l. to Bautista Agut).
Cuevas/Duran Through To Doubles Final
Fourth seeds Pablo Cuevas and Guillermo Duran edged past Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 in 77 minutes for a place in the doubles final. The duo will face Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski, who will both appear in their first ATP World Tour final, on Saturday.
Cuevas has a 7-8 record in team finals, with a 2-1 record this year, including title runs at the Rio Open presented by Claro (w/Carreno Busta) and the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (w/Bopanna). Duran is perfect in finals with a 3-0 mark, including the recent Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag (w/Molteni).
Later in the day, Podlipnik-Castillo and Vasilevski knocked out Julian Knowle and Matwe Middelkoop 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 in 76 minutes. Knowle and Middelkoop led 4-2 in the first set.