First final since July: Cazaux one match away from the title at Jinan Challenger

Competing this week at the Jinan Challenger, Arthur Cazaux has maintained his position all the way to the final.

Cazaux is building full confidence this week. The Frenchman, ranked 70th in the world, decided to go through the Challenger route to get back to winning ways. After losing in the second round of the Shanghai Masters 1000 to Cameron Norrie (6-3, 0-6, 7-6), the 23-year-old player entered the Jinan tournament.

As the number 1 seed, he strung together three victories, against Ugo Blanchet (6-3, 6-4), Liam Draxl (6-2, 7-6), and Zhou Yi (6-4, 3-6, 6-0) to reach the semifinals.
Facing Shintaro Mochizuki, ranked 102nd in the world and the conqueror of McCabe, Jacquet, and Tomic, Cazaux, the favorite in this semifinal, held his ground against the number 7 seed.

The two men had only faced each other once before, in the second round of the 2023 US Open qualifiers. At that time, the Frenchman won the match without any trouble (6-1, 6-2 in 1h12).

Clearly, the Japanese player's game doesn't seem to pose a problem for Cazaux, who secured his ticket to the final with a similar score (6-1, 6-2 in 1h07). The Frenchman, who hadn't played a single final since the ATP 250 tournament in Kitzbühel at the end of July, is now just one step away from the title. He will face the winner of the other semifinal, which will immediately pit Mackenzie McDonald against Petr Bar Biryukov.