Lucky Loser Mayer Surges Into Hamburg Final

For the second straight week, a Lucky Loser will vie for an ATP World Tour title after Leonardo Mayer dismissed Federico Delbonis at the German Tennis Championships 2017 in Hamburg.

Mayer, who lifted the trophy in 2014, needed one hour and 24 minutes to defeat his countryman 6-3, 7-5, firing six aces while claiming an impressive 76 per cent of total service points. The 30 year old will appear in his fourth final on the ATP World Tour and first since finishing runner-up to Dominic Thiem in Nice in 2015. His lone title came here at the Am Rothenbaum the year prior.

“Today, I played very well,” said Mayer. “It’s never easy to play a friend. Federico is one of the best players on a clay court. It wasn’t easy for me, but I’m very happy for this win. I hope I can keep it going tomorrow.”

It has been a stunnning run to the final for Mayer, who rebounded after falling to German wild card Rudolf Molleker in the final round of qualifying on Sunday. He would enter the main draw after Martin Klizan withdrew due to a calf injury and proceeded to edge top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in a deciding tie-break in the first round. Mayer would not drop a set from then on, streaking to the final. He is looking to continue to good fortunes of Lucky Losers in recent weeks, following #NextGenATP star Andrey Rublev’s maiden title last week in Umag.

Mayer extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head over Delbonis to 3-1, taking their first encounter since earning a qualifying win five years ago at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. He will next face a German for the title, with Florian Mayer and Philipp Kohlshcreiber set to square off in Saturday’s second semi-final.

World No. 138 Mayer will see his position in the Emirates ATP Rankings soar after reaching the final. The former World No. 21 is projected to break back into the Top 100 for the first time in more than a year after a shoulder injury hampered his progress in 2016. It marks the second straight week a player outside the Top 100 is in an ATP World Tour final, after No. 263 Matthew Ebden featured in the Newport final.

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