Frances Tiafoe joins David Goffin in the second round
David Goffin will find Frances Tiafoe in the second round of Roland-Garros. The American, 27th in the world and 24th seed in the second Grand Slam tournament, validated his ticket for the second round by beating Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, 52nd in the world, in three sets, 7-5, 7-5, 7- 6 (5) and 2h55 of play, Tuesday on the clay court of Court Simonne-Mathieu. David Goffin (ATP 48) had previously dismissed the young Czech Jiri Lehecka, 20 years old and 77th in the world, in four sets (6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4) and 2 hours and 45 minutes on the Court N.11.
Tsonga beaten with honors by Ruud for the last match of his career
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga played the last singles match of his career on Tuesday on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the center court of Roland-Garros. Fallen to 297th in the world and the beneficiary of an invitation, the Frenchman, who announced last month that he would end his career at the end of the Parisian stage of the Grand Slam, was eliminated by Casper Ruud, 8th in the world and seeded N.8, in the first round of the French Open tennis tournament. Tsonga, who won the first set in the tie-break, fought nearly four hours (3h49) before losing in four sets 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/4), 6- 2 and 7-6 (7/0) against the Norwegian.
Tsonga, 37, played his 15th and last Roland-Garors, coming out of four years plagued by injuries. Le Manceau has reached the semi-finals at Roland-Garros twice, in 2013 (beaten by David Ferrer) and 2015 (beaten by Stan Wawrinka). He has 18 career ATP titles including two Masters 1000, in Paris (2008) and Canada (2014). He also lost twelve finals including the Australian Open in 2008 (against Novak Djokovic) and the Masters in 2011 (against Roger Federer).
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is also competing in doubles with another French veteran, Richard Gasquet, 35. The Biterrois, 70th in the world, qualified for the second round on Tuesday by beating Xavier Malisse’s protege, South African Lloyd Harris (ATP 39) 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen .
Djokovic against Molcan in the 2nd round
World No.1 Novak Djokovic will inherit in the second round of Roland-Garros from Slovak Alex Molcan, 38th in the world and new protege of his historic coach Marian Vajda, who qualified on Tuesday. Molcan, whose first round was postponed from Monday to Tuesday due to rain, beat Argentinian Federico Coria 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 after three hours of play.
The 24-year-old Slovak has been trained since the beginning of the month by his compatriot Marian Vajda.
The latter was Djokovic’s coach for 15 years, almost without interruption. « Nole » had him by his side during his 20 Grand Slam titles.
Rublev qualified for the second round
Russian Andrey Rublev (ATP 7) has just qualified for the second round by beating South Korean Kwon (ATP 71) in four sets 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Gasquet, not disturbed by the interruptions, validates his ticket for the 2nd round
Richard Gasquet, whose match was interrupted on Monday evening due to rain, continued on Tuesday with his good momentum from the day before against South African Lloyd Harris (39th) to easily qualify for the second round, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.
Monday evening, the game between the two men, already disrupted several times by bad weather, was finally suspended until the next day, when the 35-year-old Frenchman led 6-1, 5-2.
Tuesday, the Biterrois, semi-finalist last week in Geneva after notably beating the world No.2 Daniil Medevedev, continued solidly on his momentum, quickly winning the two points he lacked to win the second set before making the entry station wagon in the third. He then quietly managed his lead to win the match after less than 45 minutes on the court today, in a game that lasted less than two hours.
« It was important to win this second set, it gives me confidence for the future », underlined just after his victory the Frenchman, 70th in the world, who is participating in his 19th Roland-Garros. « I try to play as much as possible. It’s fabulous to be able to hold on. I hope I can continue to do so to go further in the tournament, » he concluded.
On Wednesday, Gasquet will meet in the second round the American Sebastian Korda (30th), victorious against John Millman (91st), 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6).
Benoît Paire bows
Benoît Paire fell in the first round of Roland-Garros on Tuesday against Belarusian Ilya Ivashka, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 after wasting three fifth-set balls and collecting 24 double faults.
« My weapon is service at the base, » admitted the Frenchman at a press conference. « Making a game in the second set at 5-5 with 4 double faults in a row, it’s happened to me once, but they are bad passages. »
Faced with the 50th player in the world and in the stadium atmosphere of the Simonne-Mathieu court, all committed to the cause of the 33-year-old French player, Benoît Paire could not, like last year, climb to the second round of Roland- Garros.
« In my head, at the moment, it’s complicated. As soon as I have pressure, I have flaws and it shows in the matches », he delivered in a press conference, dropping n to be « not necessarily happy in (y)a life » at the moment.
The eruptive Avignonnais was close to overturning his badly started match the day before, interrupted by the rain at 6-3, 1-2. After a convincing third set, he had three set points at 5-4 in the fourth set but Ivashka broke him.
Medvedev passes without incident and is reassured
World No.2 Daniil Medvedev made his debut at Roland Garros on Tuesday a week after returning from injury, beating Argentinian Facundo Bagnis, 103rd player in the world, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. If his dry defeat in Geneva against Richard Gasquet had worried about the condition of the Russian, operated on for a hernia, his match more than mastered – as evidenced by his 35 winning shots – reassured on Tuesday. This is only the second time that the ephemeral world No.1 (three weeks) has passed the first round of Roland-Garros as he himself joked on the court.
« I love Roland, well especially since last year (when he reached the quarter-finals, editor’s note), » quipped in his impeccable French the Russian, who has never won a tournament on clay. « Before I don’t know if I didn’t like it but I didn’t stay long, added Medvedev. Often on Sunday it was already over. There at least the first round was on Tuesday and I’m happy to have won . »
Less comfortable on Parisian clay where he lost four times in the first round in six appearances, Medvedev also stayed off the courts for two months due to surgery to treat a « slight hernia ». « It’s going very well, he reassured. When I did the surgery, I didn’t think I was playing on clay. » « I was even able to play last week, a difficult match (lost 6-2, 7-6 to Gasquet, editor’s note) but I’m happy to have been able to play a match on clay before Roland. »
The whimsical Russian even hopes to « go even further » than last year’s quarters.
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