Norrie, who previously beat the Argentinians, Francisco Cerundolo and Sebastian Baez then the Dane Holger Rune in the semi-finals, was already a finalist a year ago, beaten by the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
This is the fourth title for the world No.11, his first on clay, in the career of the Englishman, born in South Africa, before growing up in New Zealand, then studying in the United States and who has played for England since 2013.
Aged 26 and a professional since 2017, he won last February in Delray Beach (United States) after winning the Indian Wells Masters 1000 in 2021 and in Los Cabos (Mexico), an ATP 250. .
Seeded N.10 at the French Open, he must face the Frenchman Manuel Guinard in the first round, who distinguished himself in Lyon by coming out of the qualifications before losing in the quarter-finals against Rune.
In the second set, Molcan, who successively eliminated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Russian Karen Kachanov and the Argentinian Federico Coria in the first round at Roland-Garros, notably dismissed two match points at 5-4 on his face-off to come back to 5-5 and snatch the second set in the decisive game 7-6 (3).
Slovak Alex Molcan against Norwegian Casper Ruud at the Munich tournament, April 28, 2022 Christof STACHE AFP / Archives
But the Slovak, who lost for the third time in the final on the circuit, completely missed the start of the 3rd set during which Norrie, finally more consistent, made the break twice to win 6-1.
"I could have won in two sets but I couldn't. I missed two match points but Alex played good points on those. I was able to evacuate that to revive myself in the third" , commented Cameron Norrie.
© 2022 AFP