At 37 years old, Gaël Monfils will play the 34th final of his career this Sunday. Having fallen to 140th place in the world, the Frenchman launches a challenge to the Russian Pavel Kotov (109th) in Stockholm.
In Sweden, the Frenchman pulled out all the stops to successively eliminate the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (52nd) 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the first round, the Austrian Filip Misolic (181st) 6-4, 6-3 , his compatriot Adrian Mannarino (24th), 7-5, 7-6, in the quarters, then the Serbian Laslo Djere (35th), 7-5, 6-2, Saturday, in the semi-final.
It has been 21 months since Gaël Monfils had not reached the final of a tournament since his last victory in Adelaide in January 2022. Better, the Frenchman achieved a fairly unique performance by reaching the final at least once a year since … 19 years old !
In the event of victory, Gaël Monfils would win his 11th title on the ATP circuit. The Monfils-Kotov meeting will begin at 3 p.m. at the Royal Tennis Hall and will be broadcast on BeIN Sport 3.
Arthur Fils in search of a second title
After a hoped-for victory for Gaël Monfils in Sweden, we head to Belgium and more precisely Antwerp where another Frenchman will face the Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik. On paper, this final seems completely balanced between Arthur Fils, seeded No. 4 in the tournament and 38th in the world, on the one hand, and Bublik (36th in the world) on the other.
After a first title in Lyon in May, Arthur Fils made his mark this week by getting rid of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (7th) 7-6, 7-6. It was easier in the quarters against the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas (69th) 6-0, 6-3 and significantly less when he entered the fray against the Estonian Mark Lajal (229th) 7-6, 7-6.
The final for the 19-year-old Frenchman will not start before 4:30 p.m. and will be watched in full on Eurosport 1.
