An all French final was achieved in Montpellier for the fourth time in eight stagings of the tournament.
There will be a sixth French champion in those eight years.
Richard Gasquet (5) had been the champion here three times and runner up twice before 2018, and he will have another shot at title number four after defeating top seed David Goffin in three enthralling sets of their semi final - well perhaps two of the three were worth the money.
Set one was all about the Gasquet serve, all but two points won on his first delivery, and a creditable 55% on his second.
He didn’t suffer the task of having to save break points, and converted one of the two granted him.
The set was won confidently 6-4.
Set two was a debacle for Gasquet - both men found it difficult winning points on their first serve, but Goffin did well on his second serve.
Gasquet could hardly find a point anywhere.
Goffin didn’t lose a game, winning 26 to 14 points for the set.
The decider brought the match back to sanity and Gasquet once again contributed to proceedings.
In fact he dominated, only losing one point on first serve, while stealing five points off Goffin’s primary attempts.
Once more facing no break danger, the Frenchman twice broke Goffin, who was playing below the standard he had been setting in matches before this.
Gasquet recovered brilliantly from the second set walkabout to win a place in the final 6-4 0-6 6-3.
He will play Lucky Lucas Pouille (2) who had booked his tickets out of here when down 1-6 3-5 against a superior opponent on the day - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (3).
However, Pouille saved two match points while serving at 3-5, and asked Tsonga to serve for the second final spot.
Tsonga appeared hampered somewhat as he struggled, ultimately broken when serving for the match, the first time even threatened in the match.
5-5, and at the conclusion of that game, Tsonga retired with a hamstring injury, Pouille escaping through to the final winning 1-6 5-5 (retired)
Hopefully only a slight strain for Jo-Wilfried with big tournaments ahead, including the first two Masters 1000 events of 2018 in Indian Wells and Miami, back to back in March.
Semi Finals in Quito:
Qualifier Roberto Carballés Baena defeated fellow qualifier Andrej Martin 4-6 6-3 6-2.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas (2) defeated Thiago Monteiro 6-4 6-7(4) 6-4.
Left handed Monteiro gave the Spaniard more trouble than he would have hoped, but an early break in the final set saw Albert through to the final against qualifier Roberto Carballés Baena.
Semi Finals in Sofia:
Qualifier Mirza Basic caused a major upset, defeating top seed Stan Wawrinka 7-6(6) 6-4
Marius Copil defeated qualifier Jozef Kovalík 6-4 6-2
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