By Chris Oddo | Saturday, February 21, 2015

 

Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon will play the fifth all-French final in Open 13 history in Marseille on Sunday.

Photo Source: Bein Sports

For the fifth time in the tournament’s 23-year history, there will be an all-French final at the Open 13 in Marseille.

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Gilles Simon fought back from a set down to reach his first final of 2015 with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine, while Gael Monfils rolled in the day's first semifinal in straight sets over Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut.

After struggling to win points against the serve-and-volley game of Stakhovsky in the opener, Simon rallied to break twice in the second and twice more in the third set to notch his third career victory in three tries against Stakhovsky.

Stakhovsky, who upset second-seeded Stan Wawrinka for his third career top ten win on Friday, drops to 4-2 lifetime in ATP semifinals.

Monfils had an easier time of it in Saturday’s first semifinal at the Palais des Sports. The 28-year-old wild card converted four of five break point opportunities to ease past Bautista Agut for the second consecutive week. The 21st-ranked Frenchman improves to 3-0 lifetime vs. Bautista Agut with the win.

Monfils reaches his 22nd career final with the victory, while Simon is into his 17th. But Simon has fared much better in his finals to date. He owns 11 titles while Monfils has gone a dismal 5-16 in his previous 21 title matches.

Simon leads the lifetime head-to-head with Monfils, 4-1, but Monfils won their only battle on French soil, a three-set victory in the Montpellier semifinals in 2012.

Frenchmen have won the Marseille title six times. Simon won the title in 2007 when he defeated Marcos Baghdatis in the final. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ('13), Michael Llodra ('10), Arnaud Clement ('06), Fabrice Santoro ('99) and Guy Forget ('96) are the other Frenchmen to have won in Marseille.