Thanks to an odd set of circumstances, Botic van de Zandschulp was the only winner on Friday at the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Open — finishing off one rain-delayed match before pulling off an upset at night to advance to the final.
The Dutch 29-year-old led China’s Yunchaokete Bu 6-3, 4-3 Thursday night when their match was suspended due to rain. Come Friday, Bu rallied to force a third set before van de Zandschulp completed a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win lasting two hours and 38 minutes of official match time.
Then, he met French ninth seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the semifinals and came out on top 6-4, 7-5. Apparently energized from his earlier victory, van de Zandschulp won 80 percent of his first-service points in that match (28 of 35) and committed just 16 unforced errors to Mpetshi Perricard’s 28.
The other reason van de Zandschulp was the only winner of the day? No. 11 seed Sebastian Korda withdrew before his semifinal match against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, citing an illness. Fucsovics and van de Zandschulp will square off in the final Saturday.
–Field Level Media
