Arneodo & Guinard advance to Monte-Carlo final, seek tournament history

Monaco’s Romain Arneodo and France’s Manuel Guinard moved one step closer to a historic feat on Saturday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where they progressed to the championship match.

The wild cards produced a statement performance to upset second seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten 6-4, 7-5 at the ATP Masters 1000 event. If Arneodo and Guinard can claim the title in the Principality on Sunday, it will mark the first time that a Monegasque player has triumphed in the tournament’s 57-year history.

Arneodo came close to achieving that feat in 2023, where he and Sam Weissborn fell in the final, but the 32-year-old will aim to rewrite the script when he and Guinard face Julian Cash/Lloyd Glasspool on Sunday.

In their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Heliovaara and Patten, the Monegasque-French duo saved two set points at 4-5 in the second set before reeling off three straight games to seal an 89-minute win. Arneodo and Guinard saved eight of the nine break points they faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Cash and Glasspool gained revenge on Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic to reach the title match. The Brits lost to the top seeds in the Miami final last month but earned a 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 10-7 win to reach the title match in Monte-Carlo.