Arthur Rinderknech, 51st player in the world this week, is living one of the most prosperous periods of his career. At 27, he qualified for his first quarter-final in the ATP 500 on Wednesday evening, dominating the Slovak left-hander Alex Molcan (46th) with aces (9) and other hard-hitting strikes.
On the annex court of the Swiss indoors, under the gaze of Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who came from a neighboring Alsatian, Rinderknech quickly took the lead against an opponent overwhelmed by the speed of the playing conditions. Led 2-1, the Frenchman lined up made the last five games of the first set.
In the second set, despite losing his break lead at 2-1, he never had time to scare himself, once again seeking Molcan’s commitment at 3-3 and concluding a few minutes later, without hesitating, on a superb external service sequence – crossed backhand volley (6-2, 6-4 in 1h17).
Almost certain to become the French number one
Extremely comfortable indoors, Arthur Rinderknech has won eleven out of the fourteen matches he has played indoors since the US Open. He has also just beaten three members of the world’s top 20 in his last three tournaments (Schwartzman, 17th, in Tel Aviv; Carreño Busta, 15th, in Gijon and Cilic, 16th, Tuesday, in Basel); each time by dismissing match points (one against the Argentinian, nine against the Spaniard and two more against the Croatian).
This beautiful collection will allow him, on Monday, to win the best ranking of his career (at worst 44th) and, unless Ugo Humbert wins the Basel tournament, the honorary title of the highest ranked Frenchman at the ATP. Friday, in the quarter-finals, he will face the winner of the round of 16 scheduled for Thursday between the Dane Holger Rune (25th) and, precisely, Humbert (103rd).
