The second semi-final of the day was between the number 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime (FAA) and surprise guest Roman Safiullin, who came from the qualifiers. The Russian put up a good fight, but the logic was respected. FAA won 7-6 7-6 and will therefore play his second final in a row, after Rotterdam last week.
In the first set between these two players with a particularly polished style, the first to draw was the highest ranked. Roman Safiullin, ranked 163rd in the world, was probably a little nervous because of what he was not used to. This lasted until the fourth game, when the Russian managed to break back in a long game of 11 points. The reaction of the recent Rotterdam winner was not long in coming. In the next game, FAA, the world's No. 9 player, broke for a white break and went 4-2 up. But again Safiullin closes the set and breaks again. The set will end in an inevitable tie-break, in which the Russian quickly takes the lead 3-0. But it wasn't enough, as the Canadian was solid from the baseline, pushing his opponent to the fault or finding the winning shot along the line, after having held the diagonal long enough to "plant" the Russian. Auger-Aliassime takes the first set 7-6(4).
In the second set, nothing to declare before the tie-break, except for 4 break points in favour of the Canadian, all saved by the Russian thanks to a remarkable patience, as well as an ability to accelerate when the opportunity arises. In the tiebreak, it was Felix Auger-Aliassime who took the lead to quickly lead 4-1. But as he had done since the beginning of the match, Safiullin showed his composure to get back into the game... But not enough. The Russian loses 7-6(4) 7-6(5) after 2h27 of play!
Having just won his first title in Rotterdam, Felix Auger-Aliassime will now play in the final of the Open 13 Provence 2022, two years after losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in Marseille. This time he will face Andrey Rublev, world number 7. Their last confrontation dates back to... last week! In the semi-final in Rotterdam, FAA won in three sets.
