The action of ATP 500 tournament in Montpellier contains some big names on the card and brought some surprises throughout the week so far.
The top names joining the competition in French indoor HC tournament are Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner. It's Dane's first time in the career, when he plays the ATP tournament being seeded as number 1. Both the top seeds of the draw reached out the semifinals without any issue, as Rune defeated Marc Andrea Huesler and Gregoire Barrere without losing a set. Sinner received not just one bye as one of the top seeds, but even two, after the withdrawal of Marton Fucsovics, who missed the chance for a revenge after losing the five-setter to Sinner in January's Australian Open. The Italian had another interesting match-up in QF, defeating his fellowcountry Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 6-2.
Rune's semifinal opponent will be Maxime Cressy. The American showed a great performance so far, winning all his 3 matches in straight sets without losing any single service game so far. This achievement is even more notable, as he needed to face Borna Coric in the quarterfinal. The Croatian gets off a slow start of the year so far, as he managed to win just one singles match in 2023, defeating Artur Rinderknech in second round here in Montpellier.
Sinner will face a biggest sensation of the tournament. Artur Flis - the 18 years-old Frenchman, received a wild card to the main draw and showed up as a big promise for the future for the local fans. The youngster, who is ranked #163 in current ATP rank had quite a difficult draw to get in the place where he is right now during this week. His first round opponent was Richard Gaqsuet. It was the clash between players from different generations, as Gasquet is 19 years older than his young opponent, who managed to win this match in straight sets. Quite a big achievement from the start, as Gasquet is the best ranked Frenchman right now and has one ATP 250 title under his belt in this year.
Another, even bigger upset made by Flis was a second round's win against Roberto Bautista Agut. The 34 years-old Spaniard was seeded with #4 and his Montpellier's campaign finished as quick as it started after 6-3 6-4 win of Flis. The fairytale run of young Frenchman continued on Thursday, as he defeated another fellowcountry Quentin Halys, not different than previous times - also in straight sets.
