Philipp Kohlschreiber reached yet another BMW Open final on Saturday, but there will be no all-German showdown in Munich after Dominic Thiem fought back to beat Alexander Zverev.

Kohlschreiber is a two-time winner of the clay-court tournament in Bavaria and was beaten by world number two Andy Murray in the final last year.

The fourth seed is just one victory away from claiming a hat-trick of BMW Open titles after seeing off Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-4 

Kohlschreiber had won three of his fourth matches against Fognini before taking to the red stuff to face the Italian on home clay and soon set about improving that record.

The world number 27 was 5-0 up in the blink of an eye and needed less than half an hour to wrap up the first set.

Kohlschreiber saved all three break points and a solitary break in the second set ensured he will return on Sunday to take on third seed Thiem.

The 15-ranked Thiem felt the force of rising star Zverev in the first set, but recovered to prevail with a 4-6 6-2 6-3 victory to keep the German teenager waiting for his first ATP World Tour final.

Thiem, eyeing a third title of the year, racked up nine double faults but broke five times to ensure he leads the way with 29 tour-level victories this season after being level with Novak Djokovic prior to his semi-final success.