Francisco Cerundolo reached his first tour-level final of the season on Friday at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon, where he defeated defending champion Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-0.
The Argentine was in control throughout the 73-minute clash. The fourth seed opened his shoulders to hit his explosive groundstrokes with power to improve to 2-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against Norrie, who beat Cerundolo en route to the Lyon title last year.
"I think I played one of the best matches of the season," Cerundolo said. "Yesterday I started not that well and finished really well and that gave me a lot of confidence and today I showed it. I am super happy because it was a tough match. Cam is a great player and I think I played amazingly and I am happy to be in the final."
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The 24-year-old will play #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils or American Brandon Nakashima in the final on Saturday at the ATP 250.
Cerundolo is seeking his second tour-level trophy this week, having captured the trophy in Bastad last year. The 24-year-old is up one spot to No. 27 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his 20th tour-level win of the season.
Norrie was aiming to reach his third consecutive final in Lyon, having lost against Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2021 before defeating Alex Molcan last year.