Berdych to defend Shenzhen title against Gasquet
Richard Gasquet will aim to stop Tomas Berdych successfully defending his Shenzhen Open crown when the two meet on Sunday.
Tomas Berdych will have the chance to retain his Shenzhen Open title after seeing off Thomaz Bellucci in straight sets on Saturday.
Last year, Berdych defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to claim glory and this time he will meet Richard Gasquet after reaching his first Tour final of 2016.
A pair of breaks gave him a one-set lead and, after letting Bellucci off the hook when serving for the match at 5-3, Berdych recovered his composure and broke his opponent to love to avoid needing a tie-break.
He will now meet Gasquet, who was 6-2 4-1 up on Janko Tipsarevic when his opponent was forced to retire with a groin injury.
"Tennis is a tough sport," said Gasquet. "It's difficult to have no injuries, especially at this time on the year.
"Our matches are very tough, physically everyone is getting better and better. The game is more and more demanding. He's had injuries in the past, same as me, and I hope he will recover well."
Meanwhile, in the inaugural Chengdu Open, world number 101 Karen Khachanov sprung something of a shock by ousting Viktor Troicki 6-3 7-5 to reach his first ATP final.
While that was a relatively straightforward affair, the second semi-final between Albert Ramos Vinolas and Grigor Dimitrov proved anything but, the former prevailing 7-6 (8-6) 1-6 7-6 (7-3).
Ramos Vinolas saved three set points to take the first on a tie-break, but lost three service games in the second as Dimitrov responded in style.
The Spaniard was broken when serving for the match at 5-4, but kept his cool in the tie-break to set up a date with Khachanov.