The top four seeds have all advanced to the Montpellier semifinals, making for a blockbuster order of play on Saturday. Holger Rune is going up against Borna Coric, while Alexander Bublik faces Felix Auger-Aliassime.
(1) Holger Rune vs. (4) Borna Coric
Both Rune and Coric are rounding into form as they head into their first-ever head-to-head showdown in the Open Sud de France semifinals on Saturday. After losing early at the Australian Open (second round to Arthur Cazaux), Rune took a late wild card into Montpellier and is making the most of it. The top-seeded Dane has advanced with straight-set victories over Gonzalo Llamas Ruiz and Michael Mmoh.
Coric missed the last few months of 2023 due to injury and lost right away at Melbourne Park to Frances Tiafoe, but his indoor swing is off to a strong start. The 37th-ranked Croat finished runner-up at a Challenger event last week in Belgium and so far in Montpellier has dismissed Pedro Martinez and Flavio Cobolli in straight sets. Despite routine scorelines this week, Coric has played a lot of matches in a short amount of time. Rune may have the physical edge on Saturday and he is simply the all-around superior player at the moment, so look for him to earn a place in the title match.
Pick: Rune in 3
(3) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (2) Alexander Bublik
The good versions of both Bublik and Auger-Aliassime appear to have shown up this week in Montpellier; the result is a semifinal showdown between the respective No. 2 and No. 3 seeds on Saturday. They will be facing each other for the fourth time in their careers, with Auger-Aliassime leading the head-to-head series 2-1 after most recently winning their lone indoor encounter 6-2, 6-3 in the 2022 Basel quarterfinals.
Auger-Aliassime went on to win the title in Basel and he went back-to-back at that tournament this past fall, but Montpellier appears to be Bublik’s stomping ground. The 27th-ranked Kazakh lifted the trophy two years ago and is back in the semis following defeats of Denis Shapovalov and Alexander Shevchenko. Auger-Aliassime has advanced with much-needed victories over Frenchmen Arthur Cazaux (in a third-set tiebreaker) and Harold Mayot. Still, it’s going to require a lot more than that for the 30th-ranked Canadian to prove that he is anywhere close to being back at his best level. Bublik looks motivated this week and should be able to continue his quest for another Montpellier title.
Pick: Bublik in 3
This website aggregates and curates news articles, blog posts, and other content from a variety of external sources. While we aim to link back to the original source, this site does not own or claim ownership of any articles, posts, or other content indexed on this site. The views, opinions, and factual statements expressed in each piece of aggregated content belong solely to its respective author and publisher. We make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of aggregated content. Visitors are advised to verify facts and claims through the original source before reuse or redistribution.
