Alexandre Muller lost his first set at this year’s edition of the Rio Open presented by Claro but ended up a battle against Francisco Comesana to reach his first ever ATP 500 final. The Frenchman needed two hours and 55 minutes to score 7/5, 6/7 (3) and 6/3.

He now takes on defending champion Sebastian Baez at the final, this Sunday, starting at 5:30pm, local time, at Court Guga Kuerten.

“It's my first ATP 500 final so for sure it’s special. I’m happy with the week I had so far and I’m looking forward to the match”, said Muller.

With the win he became the first French finalist in Rio and guaranteed a spot at the Top 50 of the ATP ranking on Monday.

Muller , 28, also joined Felix Auger-Aliassime as the second player to reach multiple ATP Tour finals this season (he won in Hong Kong) and became 8th active Frenchman to reach an ATP 500 final in series history.

He enters the final this Sunday with a 15-1 retrospect against Argentinian players in the last 16 games, 11 of them on clay. “I don’t know what the secret is, maybe because we lost the World Cup to Argentina I try to make French people happy”, he joked.

“It's going to be a very physical match, I’ll need to be confident and I’m sure it’s going to be a tricky match. I’ll do my best to take this opportunity and end the week on a high note."