Benjamin Bonzi qualified for the first final of his career

Like last year, French tennis will have a finalist from the first week of the season. Benjamin Bonzi had chosen to line up in Pune, India, rather than start his campaign in Australia. The least we can say is that he did well. The Nîmes will play the very first final of his career on the main circuit on Saturday, after his victory on Friday in the half against the number 2 seed, Botic van de Zandschulp (7-6, 6-7, 6-1).

Semi-finalist in Marseille indoors then on the grass of Majorca last year, Bonzi had stumbled each time on the last step before the final. But there was no “never two without three”, fortunately for him. Author of a great service performance (70% of firsts, 76% of points won behind this one and 53 on his second ball, three categories where he did better than his opponent), he rose to the occasion. friday.

The place of French No. 1 at stake

He could even have won a little more quietly after leading 7-6, 4-2 then 0-30 on Botic van de Zandschulp’s serve. There, the Dutchman let go of the horses, aligning four points with a big risk-taking to save his face-off. In the process, he broke the Frenchman. “I know Botic can return very well, so you can get broken in just 30 seconds“, commented Benjamin Bonzi. And when the Dutchman snatched the tie-break of the second set 7 points to 5, we feared that Bonzi had missed his chance.

A set and a break ahead, then two small points from qualifying, Lionel Zimbler’s protege could have given in to frustration, but no. On the contrary, he gave a boost from the start of the decisive round. One and even two, since he broke Van de Zandschulp twice in quick succession to lead 5-0 before concluding with his third match point on his commitment.

So this is a season that starts ideally for Benjamin Bonzi. “It’s a great start to the season, I didn’t necessarily expect that but it’s great“, rejoiced the Frenchman. On Saturday, he will play a beginners’ final against another Dutchman, Tallon Griekspoor, who beat Aslan Karatsev and is 26 years old like him. One of the two will win his first title. In the event victory, Bonzi will even become the brand new French number one in the ATP rankings, around 40th place.