It’s second time fortunate for Brandon Nakashima on the Next Gen ATP Finals because the American beat third-seed Jack Draper to the attain the ultimate of the occasion.
Nakashima fell on the semi-final stage final yr however he stayed excellent this week when he beat third-seeded Briton Draper 4-3 (8-6) 1-4 4-2 4-3 (7-5) on Friday to succeed in the ultimate, the place he’ll face Czech participant Jiri Lehecka.
It was a hard-fought battle and Draper managed to save lots of one match level with an ace to take the fourth set to a tiebreak.
But Nakashima sealed the victory on the second time of asking when Draper despatched a forehand vast.
The fourth-seeded Nakashima, who misplaced to fellow American and eventual runner-up Sebastian Korda final yr, served 15 aces and saved 5 of the six break factors he confronted.
Nakashima has received all 4 of his matches on the year-ending match for 21-and-under gamers, together with a straight-sets victory over Lehecka within the group stage.
Dominic Stricker additionally received his three group-stage matches in Milan however was eradicated by the fifth-seeded Lehecka.
Lehecka was dominant from the outset as he eased to a 4-1 4-3 (7-4) 2-4 4-1 victory in 82 minutes.
After dropping the third set, Lehecka broke Stricker within the opening sport of the fourth and by no means seemed again, sealing the match when Stricker hit a return vast.
This is the fifth version of the occasion, which options shorter units of first-to-four video games and different experimental format modifications.
New guidelines embrace no changeovers after the primary sport of every set and just one sit-down per set after three video games; a 15-second serve clock after aces, double-faults and unreturned serves; and training throughout an opponent’s medical timeout or rest room break.
