TennisSection previews the 2022 Marseille Open as AndreyRublev takes on Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final on Sunday, February 20th, 2022.
Andrey Rublev will have the chance to win his first title of the season at the Marseille Open after dismissing a third French opponent this week. And the ultimate challenge will be in the form of Felix Auger-Aliassime whom he lost to at last week’s Rotterdam semifinals. Who will walk away with the title on Sunday?
Andrey Rublev defeated Benjamin Bonzi 6-3 4-6 6-3 to reach his first final of the season. The first set was the best Rublev has played this week, pinning Bonzi behind the baseline with some bold hitting. Every space down the line, Rublev would unleash some crunching ground strokes that would either result in a clean winner or draw an unforced error from his opponent. But Bonzi who has soared in the ATP rankings in the past year following his breakthrough run on the Challenger Tour responded. The 25-year-old was playing in his first ATP semifinal of his career, but was not overwhelmed by the occasion. He broke Rublev with a stunning unreturnablebackhand down the line shot in the seventh game of the second set. Bonzi would go on to win the set and force a decider. But Rublev, who had already defeated two French hopefuls this week in three sets, found another gear. He broke Bonzi early in third with some crisp hitting. And this time, there was no way back for the Frenchman.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, meanwhile, is into his second final in as many weeks. His victory over Andrey Rublev in last week’s Rotterdam Open set the tone for a very productive month of February. Auger-Aliassime would go on to win his first title by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Netherlands, and has since maintained that momentum at the Marseille Open. The new World No. 9 made it eight wins on the spin with a hard-fought 7-6 7-6 win over Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin.
Andrey Rublev leads the head-to-head over Felix Auger-Aliassime 2-1. All three matches have gone the distance including their most recent encounter in Rotterdam which Auger-Aliassime won 6-7 6-4 6-2. The Canadian is yet to drop a set this week, as Rublev struggled mightily in his wins over Gasquet and Lucas Pouille. Before last week, you could have feasibly backed Rublev to win. But a lot has happened since then. Rublev’s title defense in Rotterdam came to a juddering halt at the expense of Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian’s confidence has skyrocketed and it would be tough to pick against him in his quest for a second career title at the Marseille Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Felix Auger-Aliassime in 3 sets.
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