Stan Wawrinka rolled back the years to advance to his first ATP Tour final since 2019 with a straight-sets win over Lorenzo Sonego.
Wawrinka was behind a single break in each set but rallied to earn a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the second seeded Italian in one hour and 26 minutes to deny him of a sixth ATP Tour final.
The win means the 38-year-old is through to his first final at this level since he lost to Andy Murray in the final of the European Open in October 2019.
‘’I'm happy with the match. I think I played really well, the best match of the week," Wawrinka said after the match.
"I'm really happy to be in the final tomorrow.’’
The three-time Grand Slam champion has now reached 31 tour-level finals, 14 having been on clay, and Sunday’s final marks his first since having undergone two surgeries on his left foot back in 2021, which caused him to fall out of the Top 300 of the Pepperstone ATP rankings.
In contrast, his near faultless week so far in Umag, in which he has not dropped a single set en route to the title match, means Wawrinka has moved up 23 places in the rankings to No. 49.
Wawrinka will take on world No. 90 Alexei Popyrin, who is through to his second ATP Tour final after defeating seventh seed Matteo Arnaldi, as he continues his bid to secure his first title since he won the Geneva Open in 2017.
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