Carlos Alcaraz to face Lorenzo Musetti in Hamburg final

Carlos Alcaraz powered into his fifth ATP final of the season with a straight-sets win against Slovakian Alex Molcan at the clay-court event in Hamburg on Saturday.

The 19-year-old Spaniard eased to a 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 success and will face Lorenzo Musetti in Sunday’s final.

Alcaraz has won all five of his previous Tour finals, including Masters triumphs in Miami and Madrid earlier this year.

The world number six struggled to pull away from Molcan in the first set, being broken when serving for the match at 5-3.

But he eventually wrapped it up on his fifth set point in a tie-break and raced through the second set.

Earlier, Italy’s Musetti reached his first ATP Tour final with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Francisco Cerundolo.

“It means a lot for me,” the 20-year-old said.

“It’s a surprise for me because I was not playing my best tennis last week (in Bastad), so I didn’t expect to be in the final here.”

The world number 62 dominated the majority of the match but missed a match point when leading 5-4 in the second set when an underarm serve backfired.

Musetti regrouped though to win in a tie-break, beating an in-form Cerundolo who won the Bastad title last week.