Montpellier final preview and prediction: Auger-Aliassime vs. Mannarino

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Adrian Mannarino will be squaring off for the third time in their careers when they battle for the Open Occitanie title on Sunday.

Auger-Aliassime is the defending champion in Montpellier, and his return trip to the final is no surprise whatsoever. The top-seeded Canadian is an absolute force indoors, so he went into this tournament as a heavy favorite. Auger-Aliassime has played like it, too, beating Stan Wawrinka, Arthur Fils, and Titouan Droguet without any trouble. The world No. 8 dropped a set to Droguet in the semis, but he promptly dominated the third 6-1.

Even though Mannarino had not been playing well, his appearance in the final is not entirely unexpected. After all, the 37-year-old generally excels indoors — plus he is playing at home in France this week. Mannarino took a far more circuitous route to the championship match than Auger-Aliassime, requiring three sets against Ugo Humbert, Arthur Gea, and Martin Damm after opening with a routine win over Pedro Martinez.

Mannarino is coming off three very tough matches and will be playing a ton of defense on Sunday, so this is going to be a tough situation for the veteran. Auger-Aliassime is likely on his way to a ninth ATP title — and an eighth on indoor hard courts.

Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 2

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