Win your first match at Roland Garros and not realize it. This is the surreal situation that Thiago Tirante (153rd ATP) experienced this Monday after eliminating the Dutchman Botic van de Zanduchulp (30th), in a day with four Argentine wins in which Diego Schwartzman (93rd) was resurrected.
Tirante, survivor of the classification, gave the great blow against an established tennis player, the 25th seed Van de Zandschulp, whom he defeated 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4, a feat that he will not forget precisely because he did not celebrate it.
To the referee: ‘Did I win?’
“I was very focused on point by point. I don’t look at the screen so I don’t have extra pressure. I was very convinced that it was 5-3 and when I went to dry, I looked at the skinny (Van de Zandschulp) to see if he was tense and already was on the net,” he explained at a press conference.
“I got more disoriented, ‘what happened?’, and when I went to shake Botic’s hand I apologized if he took it badly, I explained it to him. And when I shook hands with the referee I asked him ‘did I win?’ “He added to the laughter of the journalists.
The 22-year-old went on to explain that not following the result is part of a common tactic he uses in which he focuses more on points to avoid excessive pressure.
“For the match it was better, I didn’t put extra pressure on myself and I was able to play the points more calmly, but for happiness it was worse because I couldn’t even celebrate it,” he added about his first victory in a Grand Slam. He will play in the second round with the winner of the duel between the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (70th) and the Serbian Dusan Lajovic (51st).
The ‘Peque’ lifts two sets
Before, the ‘Little’ Schwartzman resurrected in style, coming back from two sets against the Spanish Bernabé Zapata (37th), to win 1-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-0 and 6- 4.
In 3 hours and 37 minutes, the ‘Little One’, who had lost his five games prior to Roland Garros and had a record of five wins and 14 losses in 2023, showed his best version from the end of the second set.
Between a rock and a hard place, with 2-0 against a tennis player with a very positive dynamic, Schwartzman recovered the version that led him to be a semifinalist in 2020 at Roland Garros.
“Luckily, he gave me some chances in the third and fourth sets, and I was able to get back into the match. I had been feeling somewhat better for a few weeks,” he said. He will play in the second round against the Portuguese Nuno Borges (76th).
Tomás Martín Etchevarry (46th) needed less suffering against Jack Draper (60th), who withdrew due to shoulder problems when he was losing 4-6, 0-1.
“When I saw that I had problems I started to play a little tense, it gets into your head that you can’t lose. When I won the first set I calmed down and then I saw that it was impossible for me to run for more than three hours,” said Etchevarry, who will play in the second round against the Australian Álex de Miñaur (19th).
Cachin says goodbye to Thiem
“I think the hard track or grass suits him better, so I have a good opportunity,” said the 23-year-old Argentine, who has made great progress in recent months.
Another great victory was that of Pedro Cachín (63rd) against the Austrian Dominic Thiem, former world number three and current 91st, finalist twice at Roland Garros (2018 and 2019). He won 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 4-6 and 6-2.
He will play in the second round against the Croatian Borna Coric (16th), who beat Federico Coria (94th), Argentina’s only defeat of the day, 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 ((5/7), 6- 3 and 6-3.