Cerundolo almost throws away a win against Karatsev in Hamburg, secures it with comeback in final set

Francisco Cerundolo was up 6-3 4-1 against Aslan Karatsev but needed a final set tiebreak to complete a dramatic comeback in the final set down 3-5.

One week after playing a match in Bastad, Aslan Karatsev and Francisco Cerundolo met again. That match in Sweden was an interesting one with a very competitive opening set and an easy 6-1 finish in the 2nd set for Cerundolo. This match started off similarly for Cerundolo as he was once again better than his opponent. Whether it was the first serve or 2nd serve, Cerundolo was comfortable in rallies and broke Karatsev twice.

The score was 6-3 and the Argentine looked primed for another semi-final. After saving an early break point in the 2nd set, Cerundolo jumped out to a 4-1 lead looking close to an easy victory once more. However, things changed after that, quite dramatically so. Karatsev went all out attacking and it worked. He broke back to make it 4-4 and then added another one to take the set 6-4.

A spectacular comeback from the Russian as he won five games in a row to take the 2nd set. Quite a poor display from Cerundolo who rushed too much when things were not working out as they used to before. The final set was madness, total madness. Karatsev was better early as his opponent kept missing and not adjusting.

Cerundolo started playing a bit better and broke back immediately to make it 3-3 but lost his serve once more to make it 5-3 for Karatsev. The Russian served for the win at 5-4 but lost his serve and eventually, we ended up in a tiebreak. Quite competitive but Cerundolo was able to get it in the end 7-4. He'll take a very deep breath after this one.