In what promises to be an entertaining conclusion to the ATP Sofia Open, young gun Holger Rune will take on first-time finalist Marc-Andrea Huesler for the title in the Bulgarian capital. Rune, the higher-ranked man, will unsurprising be the favourite heading into the match, but Huesler has shown that he can spring a surprise more than once so far this week. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our prediction for the final, but who will come out on top?
ATP Sofia Final Prediction
Holger Rune vs Marc-Andrea Huesler
Head-to-head: Huesler 1-0 Rune
It has been a solid week for Rune. The Dane, seeded fifth in Sofia, started his campaign with a narrow 7-6 7-6 win over the big-serving Tim van Rijthoven before rallying from a set down to snap Lorenzo Sonego six-match winning streak in the second round. He backed that up by battling past Ilya Ivashka in another physical three-setter to set up a semifinal clash with top seed Jannik Sinner. Rune lost the first set, but turned the match around before Sinner’s retirement deep into the third set sent him to the final.
The 26-year-old Huesler has played the majority of his tennis at Futures and Challenger level, but he has looked at home on the ATP Tour this week. The Swiss has scored excellent wins over Geoffrey Blancaneaux, Pablo Carreno Busta, Kamil Majchrzak and Lorenzo Musetti to reach his first Tour-level final. It continues a good run of form for Huesler who also made the semifinals at the ATP Winston-Salem Open as a qualifier and took Denis Shapovalov to five sets in the first round at the US Open.
Huesler also has reason to like his chances after beating Rune earlier this year on the clay in Bastad in their only previous meeting. Still, he will probably need to play his best tennis, or at least something close to it, if he is to get the better of Rune. The Dane is a cut above most of the opposition Huesler has faced so far this week and has looked very sharp. Huesler has played well enough this week to suggest that he could win this match, but Rune seems the likelier winner.
Prediction: Rune in 3
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