After Jannik Sinner booked the first final spot at the 2023 Montpellier Open, Holger Rune and Maxime Cressy fought for the other one.
Prize money and points on offer in Montpellier are dramatically increasing with every round, and it's not a surprise that every player targets 250 points and 85,605€ for the champion. Rune, who is the first-seeded at the ATP 250 event in France wanted to follow up on his good performances, while Cressy wanted to reach his second hard-court career final.
The match was a nail-bitter from start to finish as 38 out of possible 39 games were played, with the third set being decided in a tie-break. Both players were superb on their serve and there were only two break points during the whole course of the match.
Both of them were in the first set and it was the tall American who had both. He could use one of those chances, and thanks to winning 100% of points after his first serve in the first set, Cressy won it 7-5.
The second set reached a tie-break and the young Dane needed to win it if he wanted to think about final participation. He got two early mini-breaks and that was enough for him to win the tie-break 7-3 and take the match into a decider.
Both players were really comfortable on their serve also in the third set, and a tie-break had to be played once again. This time, Cressy started much better as he got an early mini-break and after his opponent missed an easy backhand, he led already 3-0. But Rune wasn't giving up.
Despite the Dane's fighting spirit, Cressy just proved to be better in the tie-break, and after two hours and 35 minutes, he won the match 7-5, 6-7(3), 7-6(4) to reach his fourth career ATP final.
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