TennisSection previews the 2022 Marseille Open as Felix Auger-Aliassime takes on Roman Safiullin in the semifinal on Saturday, February 19th, 2022.
After taking home his maiden ATP title in Rotterdam last week, the floodgates could now open up for Felix Auger-Aliassime. For so long, he has suffered finals heartbreak, but he is now looking to win his second title in an as many weeks. But first up, he needs to take care of Stefanos Tsitsipas’ conqueror Roman Safiullin in the semifinals of the Marseille Open.
Felix Auger-Aliassime is playing like a man possessed. And not only that, but he is now staring at the possibility of capturing his second ATP title in a month – almost unthinkable at the start of the season. Auger-Aliassime reached his second semifinal at the Marseille Open without dropping a set, beating the Belarusian No. 1 Ilya Ivashka 6-3 6-4 in an hour and 32 minutes of play. He fired eight aces, and won 74% first-serve points, while also breaking Ivashka’s serve four times. He will face a surprise semifinalist in Roman Safiullin whose magical run is showing no signs of ending.
Roman Safiullin, meanwhile, notched the biggest win of his career after upsetting the top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-4 in his quarterfinal. The Russian qualifier produced a nerveless display full of energy and exceptional hitting from the baseline to defeat the Greek. From the first point, it was clear that Tsitsipas would struggle to deal with the Russian’s weight of shot. Safiullin converted his third break point when he forced Tsitsipas to fire long from his usually reliable forehand. And he closed out the set with a bullet backhand down the line. The Russian’s level did not dip one bit as he started the second set in excellent fashion, breaking Tsitsipas again with a punchy return of serve that eked out an unforced error from the top seed’s racket. And when he held to love in the final game of the match, many asked how on earth is Safiullin ranked 165 in the world rankings?
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Roman Safiullin have not played each other on the ATP Tour. Saturday’s match at the Marseille Open will be their first official meeting. Safiullin was virtually flawless in his win over Tsitsipas, but could he repeat the trick against Auger-Aliassime? The Canadian is playing well enough to stop this fairytale run. We doubted whether he might be emotionally and physically ready for another deep run this week after his Rotterdam success. But he has delivered on both fronts. He is a supreme athlete and certainly a player that does not entertain complacency.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Felix Auger-Aliassime to win in straight sets.
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