Arthur Fils, 20th in the world, and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (50th), qualified on Friday for the semi-finals of the Basel tournament, the highest ranked of the two Frenchmen achieving a great victory against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (11th) in the process. 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
At the end of the program, Mpetshi Perricard had more difficulty overcoming the Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
The new French No.3, winner of the Lyon tournament in the spring, lost the first set of his Basel week and also conceded the first three break points of the tournament: two at 5-6 in the first set, dismissed by two winning services (the first flashed at more than 230 km/h, the second, on the second ball, exceeded 190 km/h); the third, when he was trailing 4-3 in the third set, also erased with a service at 235 km/h.
After passing 21 aces in the first round then 22 in the next round, this time he slammed 27 (but in three sets).
His qualification for the semi-finals ensures him to be at least 41st in the next ATP rankings, the best rank of his young career.
The tall server (2 m 03) will face Saturday for a place in the final the Dane Holger Rune, 21 years old and seeded N.4 in Basel, who won in two sets 6-2, 6-4 and 79 minutes of play of the Belgian David Goffin (54th), who fell in the previous round to the French No.1, Ugo Humbert.
Arthur Fils in Basel on October 25, 2024 / Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
The French No.2, Arthur Fils, aged 20, only needed 1h22 to get rid of Stefanos Tsitsipas, former world number 3, who has nevertheless been losing momentum for several months.
He will face on Saturday the American Ben Shelton (22 years old, 23rd in the world), who won against the number one seed Andrey Rublev (7th) 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4.
At the beginning of October, Fils won the Tokyo tournament by beating French No.1 Ugo Humbert in the final and showed in Basel that he is indeed one of the men in form for the fall.
The Frenchman dominated the first set but had to wait for the tie-break to conclude because he was unable to take advantage of his four break points. His superiority was even clearer in the second set completed in 27 minutes.
“I served very well. I missed an unmissable set point at the end of the first, but I found a way to refocus”declared the Essonnian, uncompromising on his serve (10 aces, no break point to save).
The ATP 500 tournaments, the third category of the circuit after the Grand Slams and the Masters 1000, are particularly successful for him since he won the Hamburg tournament in July before Tokyo and remains on 13 matches won in a row in these tournaments.
