Paris (AFP)

Logic has been respected for the first semi-official tennis tournament since the freezing of the professional circuit in March: Kristina Mladenovic and Gilles Simon, the highest ranked players in the running, rose to the final of the Elite FFT Challenge on Friday.

Mladenovic, French No.1 and 42nd in the world, eliminated Jessika Ponchet (225th) 6-1, 6-1 and will face Saturday for the title Fiona Ferro (53rd) who defeated Myrtille Georges (283rd) 6-4, 6-4.

For his part, Simon (54th) beat Hugo Grenier (243rd) 6-2, 7-6 (7/1) and will face in the final Pierre-Hugues Herbert (71st) who dismissed Corentin Denolly (327th) 6-1, 5-7 and 10-1 in the super-tie break.

So much so that the two finals will be played between the highest ranked players in the running, both for men and women.

"The sensations were better today," admitted Mladenovic in a video broadcast by the FFT, she who had struggled in her first three recovery games, beaten by Clara Burel (506th world), before difficult to dominate Chloé Paquet (174th) and Pauline Parmentier (154th).

"Yesterday (Thursday against Parmentier), I gave myself the chance to return to the court today. It was better, it was a much more complete game on my part and I think I read his service, I returned well. There were a lot of close games, but I knew how to seize every opportunity, "said Mladenovic with satisfaction.

As for Ferro, it was during this semi-final that she was tense. "At no time did I manage to relax," she said, very happy to be able to play an additional match. "Five games was really my goal at the start of the week," she said.

The recovery is also complicated in the men's table.

"It was pretty good at the start, a little bit like previous games, analyzed Simon. And then, like that, at one point it got harder, he also did other things on the ground. I lacked a little energy at the end and it became hard to hit and make efforts at each point. "

-Stops in Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet-

In the final, he will probably have to manage to maintain a higher physical intensity throughout the match against Herbert who said he was "very happy" with his match overall, even if he regrets "not having managed to close at 6-1, 5-4, service ".

"I knew it would be a game ... interesting anyway," said Herbert, also very happy to be in the final: "It was my 4th victory and I came to play games, so it was is great. "

The Elite FFT Challenge was set up by the French Federation to allow the best Tricolores to find competitive sensations after four months of freezing of the professional circuit due to the pandemic, and with a view to the resumption in August with in particular the tour American and the US Open.

Nice was the first of three stages of this mini-circuit which distributes a total of 282,000 euros but no ATP or WTA points. The players will move to Cannes next week and then to Villeneuve-Loubet (Alpes-Maritimes) the following.

24 players and 12 players are eligible to participate in the qualifications and the grand tables of Grand Slam tournaments (with 4 wild-cards for men and 2 for women).

© 2020 AFP