Arthur Fils signs his third consecutive SF in an ATP 500 in Basel | ATP Tour

Basel

Fils signs his third consecutive SF in an ATP 500 in Basel

The #NextGenATP links 13 consecutive victories in tournaments in this category

October 25, 2024

There is a very specific territory on the calendar, where Arthur Fils has built his strength in recent months: the ATP 500. The #NextGenATP has 13 consecutive victories in tournaments in this category, after appearing this Friday in the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors Basel.

The 20-year-old Frenchman defeated No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Basel quarterfinals 7-6(5), 6-3, in one hour and 23 minutes, achieving his third consecutive appearance in the semifinal of a ATP 500 tournament (Hamburg, Tokyo and Basel).

“I think I served pretty well,” Fils analyzed his performance with the serve. “I was very focused. I missed an incredible set point, but I’m happy with how I approached the tie-break and I think I had a pretty good second set too.”

“I found a way to refocus.” [tras dejar escapar los dos primeros puntos de set]and I think I did pretty well, I’m very happy,” added the Frenchman.

Fils is the only player, along with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who has managed to lift two titles this season in the ATP 500 category and his hard court record in this type of event stands at 17 victories in 20 matches.

The No. 20 of the PIF ATP Rankings resolved on his side the second match recorded by the Lexus ATP Head2Head against Tsitsipas, with 10 direct serves and 88% of points won with the first serve, according to Infosys ATP statistics. The face to face between the two is 1-1.

The finalist of the last edition of the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF is the outstanding leader this year in the PIF ATP Live Race to Jeddah with 2,280 points, which represents an advantage of 1,135 over No. 2 in this classification Alex Michelsen .

In his fourth semifinal of 2024 – he also achieved it at the ATP 250 in Auckland – the Frenchman will measure strength with the American Ben Shelton, who eliminated the first seed Andrey 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4 Rublev in one of the most intense matches of the tournament.

Consequently, Friday’s day left two great contenders to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in a delicate situation. Tsitsipas, 2019 champion of the prestigious season finale tournament, is No. 12 in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, 845 points behind No. 8 Rublev who marks the cut line. Both are waiting for the week’s results to know their real options to compete at the Inalpi Arena.