Michelsen cracks Top 50, meets Sonego in Winston-Salem final

pAmerican a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alex-michelsen/m0qi/overview'Alex Michelsen/a will hope to celebrate the passing of his teenage years a day early on Saturday when he plays for his first ATP Tour title in the final of the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/winston-salem/6242/overview'Winston-Salem Open/a./p

pThe #NextGenATP star, who turns 20 on Sunday, was leading a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/pablo-carreno-busta/cd85/overview'Pablo Carreno Busta/a 7-6(5), 2-1 when the Spaniard retired./p

p ldquo;Really unfortunate. I know he has been struggling with injuries for a couple of years. He is a great player, [former] Top 10, and I thought he was playing at a pretty good level today,rdquo; Michelsen said. /p

pMichelsen, who was the beaten finalist in Newport the past two years, cracked the Top 50 by reaching the championship match in North Carolina, rising to a career-high No. 49 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. /p

p ldquo;Itrsquo;s not the way I wanted to get to the final, I wanted to win it the right way,rdquo; said Michelsen, who will meet Italian a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/lorenzo-sonego/su87/overview'Lorenzo Sonego/a in the final. /p

pIn a gruelling first set that lasted an hour, Carreno Busta started strong and raced to a 5-2 lead with Michelsen struggling on his second serve. The Spaniardrsquo;s powerful hitting built pressure but when the new balls came out, Michelsen played more aggressively and took the attack to Carreno Busta. /p

pThe American completed his comeback and claimed the first set in a tie-break after winning 70 per cent of his first serves. He then broke Carreno Busta to lead 2-1 in the second set./p

p ldquo;I had a little mindset change at 5-2 to play on my terms and once I did that, I was doing a lot better.rdquo; /p

pEarlier in the day Sonego defeated a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/david-goffin/gb88/overview'David Goffin/a 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first final since lifting the 2022 Metz title. The 10th seed looked for early opportunities to be aggressive in rallies and broke Goffin in the Belgianrsquo;s opening service game of each set. The 29-year-old is the first Italian finalist in Winston-Salem tournament history./p

p

ldquo;I served really well today,rdquo; said Sonego, who did not face a break point. ldquo;I improved my serve this yearhellip; I returned really well on second serves, [and then] I can play more free. I played my perfect match today and Irsquo;m really proud of myself.rdquo;/p

p

Sonego is the sixth different Italian ATP Tour finalist in 2024, the most for Italy in Open Era: a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/luciano-darderi/d0fj/overview'Luciano Darderi/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/matteo-berrettini/bk40/overview'Matteo Berrettini/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/lorenzo-musetti/m0ej/overview'Lorenzo Musetti/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/flavio-cobolli/c0e9/overview'Flavio Cobolli/a./p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p