ATP Tour

Paul earns comeback win, sets Buse final in Hamburg

Tommy Paul produced an impressive comeback against Alex de Minaur to reach the final at the Bitpanda Hamburg Open on Friday evening.

The American trailed the third seed 2-6, 0-3, but turned the tables and found top gear to earn an entertaining 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the ATP 500 clay-court event. Paul won nine consecutive games from mid-way through the second set to turn his fortunes and clinch his fourth Top 10 win on clay.

"I was in panic mode, down a set and 3-0," Paul said. "I thought he was playing amazing tennis and I was just trying to find ways to win points. I feel like I stayed resilient, put balls in, made points longer and I started finding my forehand. I shifted it and started playing some really good tennis."

With his two-hour 17-minute triumph, Paul reduced the deficit to 2-5 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the Australian De Minaur. In a high-quality performance, Paul hit 29 winners, moved well to track down everything De Minaur threw at him, and clinically closed out to love on serve.

The American, who saved seven match points in his second-round win against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, is into his 10th tour-level final and second on clay. Paul lifted the trophy on the surface in Houston in April.

Paul will play Ignacio Buse in the final on Saturday after the Peruvian continued his dream run in Hamburg.

Qualifier Buse moved past Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-1, 6-4 to reach his first tour-level final and become the fourth Peruvian to reach this stage at an event in the Open Era (since 1969). The 22-year-old, who reached the semi-finals in Rio de Janeiro in February, is up 21 spots to No. 36 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

"I am so happy today. This feeling is amazing and I can't describe how I am feeling right now," Buse said. "I think he did not play his best tennis today but I managed to play really great."

Buse overcame Flavio Cobolli and Jakub Mensik in his first two matches without dropping a set and then defeated Ugo Humbert in the quarter-finals. The last Peruvian to reach a tour-level final was Luis Horna in 2007.