In what promises to be an entertaining conclusion to the 2023 ATP Lyon Open, wildcard Arthur Fils will take on fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo for the title. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our prediction for the final, as well as the ATP Geneva Open final between Nicolas Jarry and Grigor Dimitrov, but who will come out on top?
ATP Lyon Final Prediction
Arthur Fils vs Francisco Cerundolo
Head-to-head: first meeting
Fils appears to enjoy playing on home turf. The young Frenchman reached back-to-back semifinals in Marseille and Montpellier earlier this season, and has again impressed this week in Lyon – albeit he has also had some good fortune. He opened his campaign by beating Zhang Zhizhen 6-3 6-2 before his second-round clash with Mikael Ymer ended when the Swede was defaulted for hitting the umpire’s chair with his racquet.
He then reached the semifinals without hitting a shot in anger when second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime withdrew. In the semifinals, he beat eighth seed Brandon Nakashima in a three-set thriller, eventually prevailing in a third-set tiebreak to reach his first tour-level final. Cerundolo, meanwhile, enjoyed a first-round bye, before benefitting from Juan Pablo Varillas retiring after losing the first set in the second round. In the quarterfinals, the Argentine got the better of Jack Draper in three sets.
That set up what looked like being an intriguing semifinal clash with second seed Cameron Norrie. The Briton may not be at his best on the clay, but he can certainly play on it. Or he usually can. Cerundolo dismantled Norrie, losing just two games in a dominant display. If he can maintain that level against Fils, the Frenchman may be in for a difficult day. Fils does cover the court extremely well, but he does not have the sort of firepower to go toe-to-toe with Cerundolo.
The Argentine’s forehand in particular is a real weapon. If Fils cannot find a way to deny Cerundolo time on the ball, expect Cerundolo to do real damage from that wing. Fils will have the crowd right behind him and he is surely full of confidence, but he has not yet come up against a player of Cerundolo’s quality this week – at least on the clay. Fils clearly has a very bright future, but this may prove to be a bridge too far too soon for the Frenchman.
Prediction: Cerundolo in 2
Main photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
