Herbert advances to Winston-Salem final

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) French qualifier Pierre-Hughes Herbert advanced to the Winston-Salem Open final, beating 13th-seeded Steve Johnson of the U.S. 3-6,

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) French qualifier Pierre-Hughes Herbert advanced to the Winston-Salem Open final, beating 13th-seeded Steve Johnson of the U.S. 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Friday.

Herbert, ranked 140th, will play second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa or Malek Jaziri of Tunisia on Saturday in the championship match at the Wake Forest Tennis Center.

Herbert will play his ninth match in eight days. He won three qualifying matches to make the main draw, then won five more to advance to his first ATP World Tour final.

Johnson, ranked 49th, broke Herbert's serve once and won 92 percent of his first serves in the first set, and broke him again to open the second set. But Herbert broke Johnson's serve in the sixth game to force the tiebreaker, then won six of the last nine points in the tiebreaker to take the set.