Jannick Sinner dominated a French teenager on Saturday, defeating Arthur Fils 7-5, 6-2 for a place in the final at the ATP event in Montpellier.
The 21-year-old Italian winner won the battle of young talents in 95 minutes as he dispatched the No. 163 on a home court.
Sinner will be playing his eighth career final against French-born American Maxime Cressy after he beat Holger Rune 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4).
“I am very happy to be in my first final of the season,” Sinner said.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of tournament, every tournament when you go far is very good. I am very happy to be in the final here.”
Fils is the current talk of the French game after defeating Richard Gasquet and Roberto Bautista Agut in only his second appearance in an ATP-level main draw.
“I knew I had to play at a very high level today,” Sinner said. “He is very strong and has great groundstrokes,” the 17th-ranked winner said.
“Maybe I had a bit of experience on him in the first set and I got a bit lucky.”
