World No. 8 Dominic Thiem will play Gilles Simon on Saturday for the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon title and the 200th match win of his career (199-117). Thiem, who has won their past five matches, leads Simon 6-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.
Top-seeded Austrian Thiem will contest his 16th ATP World Tour final (9-6) after he defeated Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in one hour and 58 minutes. Earlier in the day, Thiem needed 50 minutes to win the third set of his quarter-final against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez for a 6-7(4), 7-6(0), 6-4 victory in just under three hours. The pair had returned on Friday at one-set apiece, after darkness suspended the match.
Thiem, 27, improved to a 28-8 record on the season (19-5 on clay), which includes his ninth title at the Argentina Open (d. Bedene) and a runner-up finish at the recent Mutua Madrid Open (l. to A. Zverev).
France’s Gilles Simon broke serve three times in the first set, but then had to battle hard to beat first-time semi-finalist Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 6-1, 7-6(6) in 81 minutes. He will compete in his 20th title match (13-6), having improved to a 16-10 mark in 2018.
The 33-year-old recovered from a 1/4 deficit in the tie-break and saved two set points from 4/6 to move to within one win of a second trophy this year. In the first week of the season, he captured the Tata Open Maharashtra crown (d. Anderson). The former World No. 7, who is currently No. 75 in the ATP Rankings, has not reached two ATP World Tour finals in a season since 2015, when he captured the Open 13 Provence crown (d. Monfils) and finished runner-up at the Moselle Open (l. to Tsonga).
Norrie, 22, will break into the Top 100 for the first time at around No. 85 on Monday. He recorded his first Top 10 victory over American John Isner in the quarter-finals. Lajovic, who had been appearing in his first ATP World Tour semi-final since the 2016 Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex, drops to an 11-12 mark this year.
Did You Know?
Gilles Simon has a 5-1 record in ATP World Tour clay-court finals, with his last red dirt trophy coming at 2012 Bucharest (d. Fognini).