By Chris Oddo | Friday September 23, 2016

Alexander Zverev reached his sixth semifinal of 2016 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Mikhail Youzhny on Friday to set up a clash with his friend and mentor Tomas Berdych.

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Zverev, still only 19, is enjoying a fantastic season on the ATP Tour. He is the youngest player to crack the Top 30 since Rafael Nadal in 2005 and he earned his 36th victory of the season against Youzhny, dropping just three first-serve points and saving both break points he faced.

The German will bid for his third final of the year against a Czech who has yet to reach one. Berdych improved to 33-15 on the season with a 6-4, 6-3 takedown of Paolo Lorenzi, and the 31-year-old will take a 4-0 career edge over Zverev.

But Berdych, who shares trainer Jez Green and enjoys a friendly relationship with Zverev, knows that the 6’6” German is a rising star that is improving with each passing week on the tour.

"I think he is a rising ATP star," said Berdych of Zverev, according to ATPWorldTour.com. "I have already played against him a couple of times. We had a couple of good battles at the beginning of this year. One of them was the Davis Cup rubber which I won in five sets. I beat him again at Wimbledon this year. He is definitely a guy with a great future. He always makes me work hard on the court to beat him."

Saturday’s other semifinal will feature top-seeded Stan Wawrinka against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.

2016 U.S. Open champion Wawrinka stretched his winning streak to nine matches with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Serbia’s Viktor Troicki. Wawrinka won 39 of 50 first serve points and saved both break points he faced to improve to 6-0 vs. Troicki.

Wawrinka and Bautista Agut have never met before.

The Spaniard came from behind to defeat Joao Sousa, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, for his 42nd win of the season and 31st on hard court.