After six months in the hard, Gaël Monfils is back on the front of the stage. The Frenchman qualified for the second round of Roland-Garros on Tuesday May 30 by beating, despite cramps and after 3:47 of play, the Argentinian Sebastian Baez (42nd) (3-6, 6-3, 7- 5, 1-6, 7-5), picking up his first-ever win since returning to competition in March. In the next round, the 36-year-old Frenchman, who fell to 394th place, will face the Dane Holger Rune (6th).
“I had a new breath, pushed by the public. There were people screaming, I was like, Come on, let’s go again. There you go… It’s exceptional, I have no words, “said the one who is participating in his 16th Roland-Garros. “It’s super late, you stayed, you supported me on every point, it was very hard”, he launched to the public before adding: “It was the first round, we will try to have a nice party for the 2nd round too. »
The big surprise of the day is undoubtedly the elimination of Daniil Medvedev, considered one of the main underdogs at Roland-Garros. The Russian was finally eliminated in the first round by the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild, 172nd and coming from the qualifications (7-6, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4). The Russian had seemed to take a liking to clay, a surface he hated until then, winning the Masters 1000 in Rome just before coming to Paris. It is not so.
Nobody wanted to see him leave the tournament in the first round. But Richard Gasquet had to bow in a Franco-French duel at Roland-Garros. At 36, the 52nd in the world will not have succeeded in taming Arthur Rinderknech.
For his fourth participation, the 78th in the world won his first match in the Parisian grand slam (6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6). But he will be scared. Because after leading 5-0 in the 4th set, he saw Gasquet come back to equality and had to go for his victory in the tie-break. “I hope to play one last Roland-Garros next season,” said the veteran, nearing the end now.
Overall, this third day will have been complicated again for the French players. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, the first Frenchman to enter the courts, will however have delivered an exceptional match. For his first Roland-Garros, the 237th in the world believed in it until the 5th set, before collapsing completely against Genaro Alberto Olivieri, 231st in the ATP rankings (6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7 , 1-6).
The day will also have been fatal for Hugo Gaston (109th), who failed to put his game in place (1-6, 6-7, 4-6) and will not repeat his exploit of 2020, when he reached the round of 16 after coming off the best game of his young career against Stanislas Wawrinka. Grégoire Barrère (58th) is more experienced but suffered the same fate. He had the match in hand after three sets (2-6, 7-6, 7-5), but ended up breaking down in the last two (1-6, 4-6) and saw the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori rally the second turn.
It took nearly 4:30 hours for the Argentinian returnee Guido Pella to overcome Quentin Halys (88th). The matches follow and look alike for the Frenchman, who once again lost in the super tie-break (4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-7).
On the women’s side, Océane Dodin (122nd) won her match against her compatriot Selena Janicijevic, 20 (179th). It took him a set to get in working order (0-6, 6-1, 6-1). Fiona Ferro (465th), for her part, will not have succeeded in developing her tennis against Rebecca Peterson, the Swede 87th in the WTA ranking (2-6, 0-6). Clara Burel (76th) also stops at this point after losing to Sara Sorribes Tormo (6-7, 2-6).
Faced with the Ukrainian Kalinina (26th), Diane Parry (79th) will have achieved a small feat with her victory in two sets (6-2, 6-3). For her fifth participation at Roland-Garros in singles, she could also claim her best performance (3rd round). She will meet 16-year-old Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva (143rd) in the next round.
In the second round, there are therefore five French (Pouille, van Assche, Humbert, Moutet and Rinderknech), pending the match of Gaël Monfils, and four French women (Garcia, Parry, Dodin and Jeanjean).
