Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff could barely contain his glee after victory yesterday in Munich took him to his first final on the ATP tour at the eighth attempt. The 31-year-old beat Belarusian qualifier Ilya Ivashka 6-4, 6-1 at the ATP clay court tournament in the Bavarian capital to end his miserable run of semi-final defeats.
“I am very happy to have reached my first final, here in Germany of all places, in Munich,” Struff, who turned pro in 2009, told local broadcaster BR.
“I’m very happy with the way I played,” Struff said.
“It feels good to have won in two sets, but it wasn’t easy.”
In today’s final, Struff, who hails from Warstein near Dortmund, faces Georgian fifth-seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, who powered past second-seed Casper Ruud for a 6-1, 6-2 win in his semi-final.
Basilashvili, who won the fourth title of his career in Doha last March, won nine straight games to go from 1-0 down in the first set to 3-0 up in the second.
“I am feeling good and fresh,” said Basilashvili.
“I am looking forward to the final. I feel confident here and the court suits me, so it will be an interesting match as we played recently in Italy.”
Basilashvili beat Struff over three sets in Cagliari on clay at the start of April in the latest of the pairs’ four matches. Each has two wins.It was the second game of the day for both Ruud and Basilashvili who had earlier completed their rain-interrupted quarter-finals. Rudd beat eighth-seeded Australian John Millman 6-3, 6-4 while Basilashvili overcame Slovakian lucky loser Norbert Gombos 6-4, 6-4.

Results
(x denotes seeding)
Semi-finals
Jan-Lennard Struff (GER x7) bt Ilya Ivashka (BLR) 6-4, 6-1
Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO x5) bt Casper Ruud (NOR x2) 6-1, 6-2
Quarter-finals
Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO x5) bt Norbert Gombos (SVK) 6-4, 6-4
Casper Ruud (NOR x2) bt John Millman (AUS x8) 6-3, 6-4