Top seed, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, came back from a set down against Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 at the Mallorca Championships and book a spot in his first tour-level grass-court final.
The world No. 2 Russian has lifted all 10 of his ATP Tour trophies on hard courts. He will get the chance to add a grass-court title when he takes on Sam Querrey of the United States in the final.
The 33-year-old Querrey fired 18 aces past Adrian Mannarino of France en route to a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
He saved the only break point he faced and won 97 percent of points behind his first serve to seal the victory in an hour and 10 minutes.
Medvedev, who is into his 18th career final, improved to 25-7 on the season with his semi-final win.
“I know that I can play well on grass,” Medvedev said on Friday.
“Unfortunately we don’t have that many tournaments, only one ATP 500 and one Grand Slam. It’s going to be a special feeling (if I) win my first title on grass. I still don’t have one on clay, even if I have one final. Adding these titles, especially on different surfaces, can help your confidence and it’s just a great thing for your career,” the Russian told atptour.com after the match.
Medvedev, who also won in Marseille earlier in the season, relied on his big serves to bail him out of tricky situations. He fired 10 aces and won 81 percent of points behind his first serves.
“It was not an easy match and it was in very hot conditions. I think we were both struggling physically in the third set. But I think it was a high-quality match. It was very important to start well in the sets; this is what I didn’t manage to do in the first set. I had a lot of opportunities to try to come back, but he was better.
“This is where I was better in the second and third set. It was a tight battle, and I’m really happy with the second and especially the third set,” he added.
