Arthur Fils in the footsteps of Noah

It's a ball that could have thrown a young player off course. At 5:4 and 30:40, serving for Stefanos Tsitsipas, Arthur Fils had a simple forehand, but he pulverized it far to the back of the court. 5:5 instead of winning the first set a little later. But the young Frenchman from a suburb of Paris remained calm and still managed to beat the Greek number 3 seed 7:6 (7:3), 6:3 in the end.

"Of course, these are difficult moments," Fils later described the missed "penalty". "I'm all the happier how I picked myself up again afterwards." The Frenchman, who is "only" 1.85 m tall by modern tennis standards, demonstrates an astonishing calm and poise for his age. As a result, he has already won two 500 tournaments this year in Hamburg and Tokyo, including the one in Basel, and has established himself in the top 20.

No promise

"I'm also working hard to improve," assures Fils. "Both mentally and as a player." He could now become the third Frenchman to triumph in Basel, the last time being Yannick Noah, who prevailed in 1982 and 1987. "I'll try, of course," he says with a smile. "But I can't promise anything."

There is still a major obstacle in his way before the final. Literally. In Saturday's semi-final, Fils will face the 1.93 m tall American Ben Shelton (ATP 23), who after Stan Wawrinka also knocked out the top-seeded world number 7 Andrei Rublev. On Thursday evening, the two played doubles together and lost to the Swiss duo Marc-Andrea Hüsler/Dominic Stricker. "He's a good friend of mine, it's fun to play with him," revealed the Frenchman.

Spectacle programmed

Two years older Ben Shelton, who has become a crowd favorite in the St. Jakobshalle with his good humor and spectacular shots, agrees. "Our families are also close. We're really looking forward to the duel, and not just for us. It's usually an exciting match," says the son of former tennis pro Bryan Shelton.

The left-hander from Florida is out for revenge. He lost the last duel against Fils four weeks ago in Tokyo in a third-set tie-break, after which Fils won the title. He would now like to do the same in Basel and follow in the footsteps of Yannick Noah. However, his friend has something against it.

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