Pouille To Play For First ATP World Tour Title

Lucas Pouille is a man on a mission in 2016 and the 22-year-old will look to add a first ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the Moselle Open.

Pouille is set to face top seed Dominic Thiem in the Metz final after dispatching 2014 champion David Goffin 7-6(6), 6-1 on Saturday. He punctuated the one-hour and 21-minute victory with an emphatic forehand pass at the net on his first match point. The third seed, who fired 32 winners, crashed the net often in claiming 12 of 14 points when coming forward.

Pouille enters his second ATP World Tour final in fine form following a quarter-final run at the US Open. Runner-up in Bucharest (l. to Verdasco) earlier this year, he is hoping to extend France’s dominance at the indoor hard-court event. A Frenchman has now reached the final in eight of the past nine years, claiming six of the past seven titles.

World No. 18 Pouille, who earned his sixth victory over a Top 15 opponent in beating Goffin, boosted his chances of qualifying for the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Currently at No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, he is looking to make his debut at The O2 in London.

“I had chances to go up two breaks and maybe win the first set 6-1 or 6-2, but he found a way to come back,” said Pouille. “I held strong in the tie-break, then started to really play freely in the second set. I’m feeling good physically on the court after my US Open run. Quicker than before.” 

Goffin, meanwhile, suffered his first defeat in Metz after reeling off seven straight victories in the French city. The Belgian had his chances to close out the first set, but was unable to take his lone set point at 6-5 in the tie-break. He remains in search of his first victory against Pouille, falling to 0-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Pouille and Thiem will face off for the second time on Sunday, with the Frenchman claiming their lone encounter at last year’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

Pavic/Venus Reach Seventh Final Of Season
Mate Pavic and Michael Venus advanced to their seventh ATP World Tour final of the 2016 season, downing Colin Fleming and Scott Lipsky 7-6(4), 6-1 on Saturday in Metz. The Croatian and the Kiwi are looking to claim their third title on French indoor hard courts this year, having won in Montpellier and Marseille. They also notched titles in Auckland and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Pavic and Venus will face Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos in Sunday’s final, in a rematch of the Gstaad title match.