KITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP) — Dominic Thiem of Austria won two matches Friday to set up a final against David Goffin of Belgium at the Kitzbuehel Cup.
The fifth-seeded Austrian downed last year’s finalist Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals, a few hours after beating defending champion Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-4, 7-5 in a quarterfinal moved from Thursday because of rain.
Between those matches, Goffin rallied to beat Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the first semifinal.
It’s the first career final for both Thiem and Goffin, who has beaten the Austrian twice this season.
The 20-year-old Thiem, the youngest player in the top 50, broke Monaco early in both sets and closed out the win within an hour. Monaco had defeated fourth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in another rescheduled quarterfinal earlier Friday.
Against the second-seeded Granollers, Thiem was 3-1 down in the opening set before winning 10 of the next 15 games for a 5-2 lead in the second. He failed to serve out the match at 5-3 but broke Granollers again at 6-5.
The 78th-ranked Goffin entered the event on a wild card. Since losing to Andy Murray in the first round at Wimbledon, Goffin has been enjoying a winning streak of 19 matches, including three challenger events he won.
Goffin dropped serve twice in the opening set against Gonzalez but dominated play afterward, converting his fifth match point with a return winner.
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