Argentinian tennis player Mariano Navone (47th in the world) defeated the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp (53rd in the world) in three sets to advance to the final of the ATP 250 in Bucharest. According to the Argentinian News Agency, the player from the Buenos Aires municipality of 9 de Julio reached the semifinals after winning this Friday against Slovak Alex Molčan by 3-6, 6-2, and 6-3, while the Dutchman from Wageningen came from beating Bosnian Damir Džumhur with a comfortable 6-3 and 6-3. At the National Tennis Centre in the Romanian capital, the Argentinian Navone suffered the first set against the Dutchman, who broke serve at the start, won the first service game without losing a single point, and held his serve. However, from that point on, the Dutchman failed to close out the match, and the Argentinian began to grow, managing to make it 5-5 and forcing a third set in the tie-break, which he won 7-6(3). In a third set that was a back-and-forth between the Argentinian and the Dutchman, the player from Buenos Aires would end up taking it 7-5 after three and a half hours of play. Thus, Navone advanced to his second final in Bucharest and will wait in the grand final on Sunday for the winner of the match between Hungarian Fábián Marozsan and Spaniard Daniel Mérida.
