Kukushkin Powers Into Marseille Final

Mikhail Kukushkin reached his first tour-level championship match in more than four years on Saturday, ending the run of French wildcard Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-4 at the Open 13 Provence.

The 31-year-old Kazakh, who reached his third ATP Tour final at the 2015 Sydney International (l. to Troicki), advanced to the championship match after one hour and 33 minutes, winning 83 per cent of service points (38/46) en route to victory. Kukushkin will be aiming to capture his second tour-level crown in Sunday’s final, more than eight years after claiming his maiden title at the 2010 St. Petersburg Open (d. Youzhny).

Kukushkin will meet top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or third-seeded David Goffin for the title. The World No. 50 trails Tsitsipas 0-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series and also lost his only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter against Goffin.

After failing to convert five break points in a marathon opening game, Kukushkin earned the only break of the first set at 1-1 with a dipping cross-court forehand passing shot. The Kazakh, who won each of his 20 service points in the opening set, continued to apply pressure to Humbert’s serve in the second set, breaking at 2-2 with great court coverage. After dropping serve at 4-3, Kukushkin won back-to-back games, booking his place in the final with a well-placed backhand lob.

Appearing in his first ATP Tour semi-final, Humbert was aiming to add to a strong tradition of French finalists in Marseille. Since 2006, the home nation has had at least one representative in 10 of the past 13 singles finals.

Did You Know?
All four semi-finalists at the Open 13 Provence reached the last four without dropping a set.