JOHN Millman is through to this third ATP Tour final after fighting back from a set down and a third set deficit to win three sets against American hitter, Frances Tiafoe at the Astana Open in Nur-Saltan. Just a day after having to save a couple of match points and being 5-0 down in a third set tiebreaker against Tiafoe’s compatriot Tommy Paul, Millman had to do it the hard way in long rallies to win 3-6 6-4 6-4.

It makes the third consecutive year where Millman has reached an ATP Tour final after near misses in Budapest (2018) and Tokyo (2019). After Tiafoe won the first set, the players were neck and neck at 4-4 in the second. Millman took his chance in the ninth game of the set to break, then held firm to win the set and force a decider. Once again though, Millman found himself a break down in the third, going 3-0 and 4-2 down, to then break the American twice as he won the last four games of the match to win in two hours and six minutes.

”It is so hard to make finals in ATP events,” Millman said post-match. “It has been a really unexpected surprise, but in every tournament you go out there to hopefully try and win it. I am glad I am in a position to [do that].”

Having lost to Tiafoe at last month’s US Open, revenge was sweet for the Australian, who was so consistent with his serve to claim 79 per cent of his second serve points in the decider – and 57 per cent for the match – to go with a 73 per cent success rate off his first serve. Tiafoe was even more dominant off his first serve with 81 per cent, but only won the 37 per cent off his second serve.

Now Millman will go on to face another similar battler in Adrian Mannarino. The French third seed took care of Next-Gen Finn, Emil Ruusuvuori in straight sets in the other semi-final in Nur-Saltan. Millman has a 2-0 head-to-head advantage against Mannarino, but is taking nothing for granted having to come from a set down at both Tokyo last year, and at the Western & Southern Open this year to win.

”Adrian Mannarino is an established Top 100 player… He is very comfortable on these courts,” Millman said. “He is a lefty [who is] so tough to break down… I am really glad that I can be in a position to play for the title.”

Mannarino was able to just get the job done against the Finnish 21-year-old, 7-5 6-2 saving four of five break point opportunities from his younger opponent to win in an hour and 40 minutes. Reaching the Astana Open without dropping a set to-date, the third seed was again solid across the board, winning 69 and 62 per cent of his first and second serve points respectively. He also broke four times from eight chances, two in each set to be the key difference in the match.

Mannarino was strong off Ruusuvuori’s second serve, capitalising on 71 per cent of points, and stemming the Finn’s impact off his serve with his opponent producing just the five aces and two double faults. The Frenchman has now won five of his past six matches, with only a loss to the red-hot Alexander Zverev in Cologne the outlier since returning from a disastrous clay court season. Mannarino failed to win a match on clay since the return of the Tour, but has only lost to Zverev (twice) and Millman (once) on hard courts since the Tour recommenced.

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