Adrian Mannarino pushed past countryman Gael Monfils in three sets while Damir Dzumhur breezed to a semifinal victory of his own, setting up a Saturday final featuring the top two seeds.
No. 1 seed Mannarino needed just over two hours for his 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 win, a match in which each player lost his serve just twice and the victor won only two more total points. Monfils, unsurprisingly, out-served him, tallying 17 aces to just one for Mannarino, making more first serves and winning more points on the first serve.
Mannarino, however, repeatedly dug his way out of trouble, saving five of seven break points and regularly charging back from deficits in his service games.
The first set was the most straightforward, as Monfils converted its only break point on set point to edge in front. Mannarino brushed past a pair of potentially crushing break points in the second, then came to life in the tiebreaker: He built a 4-1 lead, lost just one point on his serve and hit a crisp, cross-court overhead winner on his first set point.
The pair exchanged breaks to open the third set, and Mannarino then fell behind 0-40 in his next service game. But he dug in to hold and Monfils required a medical timeout after sliding into the net while chasing down a volley, a potential turning point in a match where the servers then regained control.
Monfils saved one match point at 4-5 on his serve, but pushed a short volley wide on the second, booking Mannarino’s place in the Antalya final for the second consecutive year. The 2017 runner-up will enter as the favorite against the Bosnian, who is making his maiden final on grass.
The No. 2 seed had little trouble on Friday, however, beating Jiri Vesely 6-3, 7-6 despite hitting just 64 percent of first serves and winning only two-thirds of first serve points. He feasted on Vesely’s weak second serve, winning 72 percent of points there, and displayed a mature, controlling performance.
He broke right back after dropping his serve in the first set, then consolidated his break lead by serving out the set. In the second, he fought off set points on his serve at 4-5, then jumped all over Vesely in the tiebreak, grabbing a 4-0 lead.
It marks a strong final run-up into Wimbledon for the No. 27 seed there; Dzumhur had lost his only grass court match entering this week.
“It’s the first time I have played two tournaments on grass prior to Wimbledon. So I have never given myself the chance to play well on grass,” Dzumhur said. “I did feel like I could play well, but I needed matches.”
