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Aussie Thompson edges Shang to reach ATP Atlanta final / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Aussie Thompson edges Shang to reach ATP Atlanta final
Australia's Jordan Thompson, seeking his second ATP title of the year, outlasted Chinese teen qualifier Shang Juncheng 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the Atlanta Open final.
After breaking in the eighth game of the third set, Thompson blasted his 13th ace to reach match point and captured the match after two hours and 21 minutes on a forehand slam winner.
The 30-year-old from Sydney, into his fourth career ATP final, won his first ATP title in February at Los Cabos, defeating Norway's Casper Ruud in the final.
He could jump from 41st in the world rankings into the top 30 with a triumph in Sunday's final in the first US hardcourt tune-up event on the path to the US Open, which begins on August 26.
Shang, a 19-year-old left-hander from Beijing, ousted US top seed Ben Shelton in the round of 16 on his way to his second career ATP semi-final, having lost the first to Russian Andrey Rublev at Hong Kong earlier this year.
Thompson will play for the crown against the winner of Saturday's later semi-final between Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka and France's Arthur Rinderknech.
Nishioka, 28, seeks his third career ATP title after the 2018 Shenzhen Open and 2022 Korea Open in Seoul.
Rinderknech, 29, lost his only ATP final at Adelaide in 2022.
M. Taylor--BTZ
