Ilya Ivashka from Belarus came back from one set down to upset two-time champion Alexander Zverev 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-3 earning the biggest win of his career at the BMW Open in Munich.
Ivashka earned the first break of the match in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Zverev broke back in the tenth game to draw level to 5-5. Zverev opened up a 4-1 lead with a mini-break. Ivashka broke back to draw level to 4-4. Zverev earned his second mini-break to win the tie-break 7-5 on his first set point.
In the second set Zverev went up a break to take a 5-4 lead. Ivashka broke back to stay in the match for 5-5 and claimed nine of the final 12 games to score the biggest win of his career.
Ivaskha got a break at 15 in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Zverev converted his third break-back point in the seventh game.
Ivashka capitalised on double faults from Zverev and got the decisive break at 4-3 in the third set to score the first top 10 win of his career.
Ivashka reached the quarter finals at the Andalucia Open and the second round at the Barcelona Open, where he came through the qualifying round to win three matches before pushing Rafael Nadal to the third round. He reached his second ATP Tour semifinal three years after reaching this stage at the Open 13 in Marseille.
Ivashka set up a semifinal match against Jan-Lennard Struff, who came back from a break down twice in the third set to beat Filip Krajinovic 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-3) on Centre Court reaching his second semifinal in Munich, seven years after reaching the same stage in 2014, when he lost to Fabio Fognini.
“This match was really tough for me and I was close to losing in the second set. I managed well and I tried to stay in and fight until the last moment to see if he would give me chances and it happened. Struff is a great player. We played one time in Davis Cup last year and it was a good match. He played unbelievable”, said Ivashka.
Struff broke serve in the 10th game to win the first set 6-4. Krajnovic went up a 4-0 lead with a double break in the first and third games. Struff pulled back one break in the sixth game for 2-4, but Krajinovic saved a total of three break points in the eighth and tenth games to claim the second set 6-4.
Krajinovic went up a break twice in the decider, but Struff broke straight back to draw level to 2-2. Struff got his third break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead, but Krajinovic pulled the break back to draw level to 5-5. Krajinovic earned an early mini-break for 1-0 in the tie-break, but Struff won seven of the next nine points with three mini-breaks to claim the tie-break 7-3.
Struff draws level to 1-1 in his two head-to-head matches against Krajinovic. The German player has improved his record to 11-6 in the Munich ATP 250 tournament.
“It was a very hard match. I expected a very tough match and a hard fight. In the end, I am very happy that I could reach my second semif-final in Munich”, said Struff.
The two remaining quarter finals will be completed on Saturday. Casper Ruud was leading 6-3 against John Millman when the match was interrupted by rain. Nikoloz Basilashvili held a 5-4 lead against Norbert Gombos before the programme was cancelled by rain.