Adrian Mannarino advanced to a personal-best third ATP Tour final of the season on Saturday, beating Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4 at the VTB Kremlin Cup.
The Frenchman, who is yet to drop a set this week, converted two of three break points to advance after 75 minutes. Mannarino is through to his second straight final in the Russian capital and will look to go one step further than 2018, where he fell to Karen Khachanov in the championship match. The World No. 44 improves to 10-3 at this tournament with his fifth victory in nine FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters against Seppi.
Mannarino will be aiming to capture his second ATP Tour trophy after lifting his maiden crown at the Libema Open in June. This will be Mannarino’s second championship match in four weeks, following his runner-up finish at the Huajin Securities Zhuhai Championships last month.
Mannarino will meet third seed Marin Cilic or home favourite Andrey Rublev for the title. The 31-year-old trails Cilic 1-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series and has never met Rublev at tour-level.
Former champion Seppi was bidding to reach his second final in Moscow. The 2012 titlist has reached the quarter-finals or better in each of his six most recent appearances at the ATP 250 event (2012-‘14, ‘17-‘19)readfullarticle
