By winning 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday, Jannik Sinner (17th) put an end to the promising tournament of Arthur Fils (163rd) who, let’s not forget, had never won a match on the circuit main before this Montpellier week. The young 18-year-old Frenchman held off the Italian during a first round which confirmed all the qualities of the great hope of French tennis.
Even jostled on his face-offs, with in particular three break points saved from entry authority, Son put a lot of intensity – what a slap in the forehand! – to resist his opponent who is both powerful and full of skill, until getting two first set balls at 5-4.
Sinner will be opposed to Rune or Cressy in the final
But Sinner saved them, first on a service winner and then winning a very intense rally by putting pressure on her backhand. Everything may have been played on a few details, when at 5-5, 40-15, Fils dropped a point on a poorly executed retro volley. There followed a double fault, then the break in favor of the Italian who ended up scoring seven games in a row to fly away at 4-0 in the second set.
Very precise in the exchanges, more constant and more disciplined against a Son who rushed too much at the end of the match, Sinner (82% of points won on his first ball) qualified for his eighth final on the circuit, which he will compete against the winner of the second semi-final between Holger Rune (9th) and Maxime Cressy (51st). And Fils will remember this tournament for a long time, which allowed him to build up a lot of confidence and experience against three former top 10 players (Gasquet, Bautista Agut and Sinner). And which allows him to be virtually 117th in the world on Monday.
