Matteo Berrettini continued his impressive charge at the Queen's Club Championships as he booked a place in the final against Cameron Norrie.
Top seed Berrettini, ranked nine in the world, has not dropped a set all week.
His impressive run has seen him defeat home hopes Andy Murray and Dan Evans, with one more Briton in the shape of Norrie left to see off in his bid for glory.
Berrettini ensured he will be in the final by claiming a 6-4 6-4 triumph over fourth seed Alex de Minaur in the semi-final on Saturday.
The Italian dropped just four of his 36 points on first-serve and sent down eight aces, with De Minaur only able to force one break point in the entire contest, which he did not take.
"[Making the final] was the goal of the week and now I have one more step," said Berrettini.
"It is a great achievement, especially for the history of this tournament. I am really happy because to beat Alex, I had to play my best tennis."
Berrettini has four tour titles to his name, though this would be his first at ATP 500 level or above.
Victory would also represent the biggest win of Norrie's career – he has lost each of his three previous finals, all at ATP 250 level.
Norrie impressively eliminated Denis Shapovalov to reach the showpiece, beating the Canadian 7-5 6-3.
Shapovalov had earlier finished off a 6-3 6-4 quarter-final win over Frances Tiafoe, a match that could not be completed on Friday due to fading light.
But the second seed could not muster up another victory against a fresher Norrie.
At the Halle Open, Andrey Rublev reached his eighth final since the start of 2020, though his first on a grass court.
Rublev dropped his first set of the week but ultimately prevailed with a 6-1 3-6 6-3 semi-final victory over Nikoloz Basilashvili.
The Russian has won his last four finals at ATP 500 level and will seek a fifth on Sunday.
"It's my first final on grass and in Halle," he said. "I think I can play on every surface and I will try my best again.
"I had good opportunities to break Basilashvili in the second set, some quite easy forehands and I stressed a little showing my emotions.
"I then came back and stayed calm, until the last game. But I won."
Rublev will take on unseeded Ugo Humbert, who held his nerve to edge a thriller against Felix Auger-Aliassime, winning 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5).
Humbert beat Alexander Zverev earlier in the week and has had to win a deciding set in all four rounds, while the beaten Auger-Aliassime had previously seen off Roger Federer as part of a dramatic event.
Frenchman Humbert won each of his first two career finals, which both took place last year in ATP 250 events.
Ten Hag confident over Fernandes stay despite reported Bayern interest in Man Utd star
Bruno Fernandes is reportedly drawing interest from Bayern Munich and Saudi Arabian clubs but Erik ten Hag remains confident the midfielder will stay at Manchester United.
The Portugal international, who joined the Red Devils from Sporting in January 2020, is said to be attracting attention from numerous clubs in the Saudi Pro League.
Bundesliga giants Bayern are also reportedly weighing up their options in attempting to sign Fernandes, though under-fire Ten Hag expects him to remain at Old Trafford.
When pressed at Tuesday's press conference on Fernandes' future, Ten Hag responded: "It is the same question as last week. So I answered.
"The same answer. Now in all the years he was, he was a tremendously important player for Manchester United and creating the most chances across the Premier League.
"So many assists, so many goals. It's clear he's a very important player for us."
Indeed, since his debut against Wolves on February 1, 2020, Fernandes leads United for chances created (644), goals (79) and assists (63) across all competitions.
In the same period, the 29-year-old also leads the way among Premier League players overall in chances created, ahead of Kevin De Bruyne (519), Trent Alexander-Arnold (424) and Pascal Gross (388).
Though Ten Hag is keen to keep Fernandes in Manchester, Raphael Varane has announced his intentions to leave the Red Devils at the end of the current season.
Casemiro is also said to be of interest in Saudi Arabia, where clubs are reportedly targeting moves for the likes of Mohamed Salah, De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku.
Swiatek soars past Keys to seal Italian Open semi-final spot
Iga Swiatek soared through to the Italian Open semi-finals following a dominant straight-sets victory over Madison Keys.
The world number one took just 76 minutes to wrap up a commanding 6-1 6-3 win - matching the scoreline which saw her overcome the American in the Madrid Open last four a fortnight ago.
Swiatek broke her opponent four times and saved all 10 break points she faced on the way to setting up a semi-final showdown with either Coco Gauff or Qinwen Zheng.
Yet to drop a set this week, the Pole remains on course to complete a hat-trick of titles in Rome and land her fourth silverware of 2024, in which she now boasts a 36-4 record.
Data debrief
Reaching her 16th WTA 1000 semi-final from 30 main draws entered, Swiatek (53.3 per cent) surpasses Serena Williams (53.1 per cent, 26 from 49) for the highest rate of last-four appearances in such tournaments since the format's introduction in 2009.
The Pole also took her tally of WTA match wins on clay to 75 from 85, with only Monica Seles, Nancy Richey (both 80), Chris Evert (81) and Margaret Court (82) reaching that figure on surface in fewer matches during the Open Era.
Philadelphia Union v New York City FC: Cushing salutes togetherness of in-form NYCFC
Nick Cushing hailed the togetherness demonstrated by New York City FC as they look to continue their impressive form against a struggling Philadelphia Union.
The Boys in Blue endured a poor start to the MLS season – losing four of their opening five matches – but have tasted defeat just once in their last seven.
Last weekend's 3-2 victory over Toronto FC was New York's fourth in five matches, and Cushing saluted the character shown by his squad in recent times.
"We're training incredibly well," he said. "Our intensity and our culture is excellent at the moment.
"I'm so proud of the team because if you look at the way the bench celebrated the third goal [against Toronto], these are guys there that really want to get on the field.
"The way they celebrate for their team-mates and for the team shows me that [togetherness]."
Despite their impressive form, though, NYCFC face a potential banana skin in Philadelphia, who have prevailed in each of the last five meetings between the Eastern Conference sides.
"They are a really hard team to get results against, especially there [at home]," Cushing added. "There's an opportunity there for us, but we have to prepare well."
The Union are without a win in five matches – losing three – and have been beaten in each of their last three on home soil.
Jim Curtin's side had started the season with a seven-game unbeaten run, and the head coach has urged his players to draw inspiration from that as they bid to turn their fortunes around.
"I'm a big believer that you can make your own luck," he said.
"We've shot ourselves in the foot quite a bit in recent games, played from behind quite a bit, had to chase games and put a lot into them, and we get punished.
"We have to stick together as a group and find a way to tighten things up. We're on a really bad stretch here, but we know we're capable of going on unbeaten streaks already like we've had this year.
"We have to turn it around, and we can't feel sorry for ourselves."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Philadelphia Union – Daniel Gazdag
Despite Union's recent struggles, Gazdag has been in fine form – scoring in three straight home games, though they have all ended in defeat.
The Hungary international is the first player to score in three successive home matches but appear on the losing side each time since Colorado Rapids' Kei Kamara in 2019.
New York City FC – Hannes Wolf
Wolf set up two of NYCFC's three goals in their victory over Toronto FC last time out.
The midfielder became the first Austrian to claim at least two assists in an MLS game after Daniel Royer (2020), Andreas Ivanschitz (2016) and Andreas Herzog (2004).
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK CITY FC
New York have won four of their last five matches, scoring multiple goals in each of their victories.
They had only scored two or more goals once in their opening seven games of this season.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia are currently on the longest losing home streak in their history, having lost each of their last three at Subaru Park.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Philadelphia Union: 49.7%
New York City FC: 22.8%
Draw: 27.5%
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