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World No. 40 Botic van de Zandschulp admitted he was extremely tired after surviving a thriller Munich semifinal versus Miomir Kecmanovic. Van de Zandschulp, 26, edged out rising Serbian star Kecmanovic 2-6 7-6 (4) 6-4 to progress into his first ATP final in Munich.
The match lasted nearly three hours as van de Zandschulp needed two hours and 52 hours of action to beat Kecmanovic. “I’m pretty tired,” van de Zandschulp said, per the ATP Tour website. “It was a long match, tough conditions, the court was so heavy, so I’m happy I made it through.
It didn’t look like [I would] after the first set, so I’m really happy with the win”.
Van de Zandschulp adjusted his game to the tricky Munich conditions
Kecmanovic claimed the first break of the match in the second game but van de Zandschulp broke back in the third game.
Blowing an early break didn't impact Kecmanovic, who broke van de Zandschulp again in the sixth and eighth games to win the first set. After losing the first set, van de Zandschulp broke Kecmanovic in the opening game of the second set.
Kecmanovic broke back van de Zandschulp in the sixth game but the Dutch claimed another break in the seventh game. Van de Zandschulp continued to struggle on his serve after claiming a break as Kecmanovic broke back in the eighth game and the second set went into a tie-break.
Van de Zandschulp was 2-0 down in the tie-break but he recovered as he realized his second set point to force a decider. After winning the second set, van de Zandschulp earned the first break of the third set in the fourth game.
Van de Zandschulp got broken back in the fifth game but broke Kecmanovic in the 10th game when the Serb was serving to stay in the match. “I had to adjust a little bit,” van de Zandschulp noted. “It was slower than yesterday, a lot heavier than yesterday, and he did better than me in the first.
Second set I started to play better, smarter, and I’m happy I won 6-4 in the third”. Van de Zandschulp plays Holger Rune in his maiden ATP final.