Pierre-Hugues Herbert beats Steve Johnson to reach Winston-Salem Open final

29 August 2015 02:31

France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert came from a set and a break down to beat American Steve Johnson and reach the final of the Winston-Salem Open.

Herbert looked in trouble when he lost the first set and then a break in the opening game of the second, but the world number 140 turned the match around to win 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-2.

Big serving South African Kevin Anderson now awaits for Herbert, who will be gunning for his first ATP World Tour title in Saturday's final.

"In France we call it a 'diesel start,'" Herbert told atpworldtour.com

"It's not always easy to find the rhythm right away.

"Steve served incredibly in the first set. I could hardly put a ball in the court.

"Then in the second set I played one amazing return game and the momentum just changed. It gave me confidence.

"I broke with three return winners so it wasn't his bad play. After that I told myself that I could win it."

Anderson's passage was more comfortable as the world number 15 eased past Malek Jaziri 6-4 6-3 to book his third ATP World Tour final of the year.

"Credit to him, he came out swinging," Anderson said.

"It was interesting because the last time I played him, he was a lot more defensive and stood pretty far behind the baseline.

"Today he was much more aggressive so I tried to take care of my serve and get into some of his return games."

Anderson, who is due to meet Andy Murray in the last 16 of the US Open, has never met Herbert before in a competitive match.

Source: PA