Adrian Mannarino, August 28, 2023, during the first round of the US Open, in New York. JERRY LAI/USA TODAY SPORTS VIA REUTERS CON
They are twenty-three French to commit to the US Open 2023 tennis at Flushing Meadows. Among the twelve who gave their first racket shots on Monday August 28, Adrien Mannarino, the tricolor leader, showed the example. The most consistent French player this season lost a set but dismissed the Japanese Yosuke Watanuki, 85th player in the world, with a tight score of 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-5.
” I feel good (…), pretty fit, even if I’m not in top shape yet. I still have small glitches left and right”, he commented. The 35th player in the world had to face a very aggressive opponent, a big server, who tried to speed up the exchange at the slightest opportunity, even if it meant committing a whopping 64 unforced errors.
“I like to play a lot of rallies to find my rhythm, find my feelingsrelated Mannarino. And there he really tried from start to finish (…), I didn’t really feel like I had control and it wasn’t necessarily pleasant. » Mannarino’s experience and consistency, notably on serve, but also in return, nevertheless ended up making the difference.
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No Grand Slam victory for Gasquet in 2023
In the second round, he will face the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, winner of Richard Gasquet, who, with this defeat in the first round, completes a season without a single Grand Slam match won, a first for him since 2004, when he had not then not played Flushing Meadows at all.
The 55th in the world however fought well on Monday, after suffering lightning in the first two rounds, lost 6-3 and 6-1, against the 92nd in the world. Trailing 5-3 in the third set, and as Marozsan served for the match, Gasquet unbroken and managed to win the tiebreak. Bis repeated in the next round: Marozsan served for the match at 5-4, but the Biterrois unbroken and the two men found themselves embroiled in a new tie-break, again won by Gasquet.
The fifth set turned to the advantage of the Hungarian when he managed the break to break away 4-2. He then concluded on the service of the French (6-2), who participated, at 37, in his nineteenth US Open, where he had reached the semi-finals in 2013, and the third round in 2022. ” I want to play. I want to try to finish the season well and start again next year no matter what.”said Richard Gasquet after the meeting.
For his first participation, Alexandre Müller had the formidable honor of facing Novak Djokovic at night, in the largest arena in the world, the Arthur-Ashe court and its 24,000 seats. The Frenchman, 84th player in the world, did not exist against the player with 23 Grand Slam trophies, and lost sharply 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 in barely 1:34. With this victory, Djokovic is guaranteed to become world number one again at the end of the New York tournament. The 36-year-old Serb did not participate in the 2022 edition won by Carlos Alcaraz for lack of an anti-Covid vaccine, so he only had to go to the second round this year to climb to the top of the hierarchy ahead of the Spaniard since he had no points to defend, according to ATP rules.
Feat of Titouan Droguet
For his part, the French Grégoire Barrère (59th) yielded in four sets against the Czech from the qualifications Jakub Mensik (206th). End of the course also for Enzo Couacaud, 180th in the world and passed through the three qualifying rounds, who lost to another Czech, Jiri Vesely (437th), in five sets (5-7, 6-3, 6- 2, 3-6, 6-4).
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The smile returned to the French side with the feat of Titouan Droguet, who had never before played a match on the main ATP circuit and who emerged victorious from the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 20th in the world. From qualifying, Droguet, 22, won 6-3, 0-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2 in 3:40. first dropped onto his back, shook his opponent’s hand and then let out a huge cry of deliverance. The only fact of playing the second round of the main draw in New York will earn him 123,000 dollars (113,000 euros approximately), slightly more than all of his winnings (119,000 dollars) since he started on the professional circuit in 2018.
“It’s the first time I’ve played in three winning sets, so I’m trying to manage my efforts, but I didn’t really know how to do it, especially since I’m quite prone to cramps at the end of the match.explained Titouan Droguet. So in the second set, I tried to manage when I was way behind. The third set is a bit of a headache. I left the field to try to remobilize myself and I just said to myself “kiffe, there are people, a nice atmosphere, my friends, it’s going to be fun, fight until the end and you’ll see”. »
Titouan Droguet, winner of Lorenzo Musetti, on August 28, 2023, at the US Open, in New York. MARY ALTAFFER / AP
Satisfaction also with the qualification of Hugo Gaston (99th) at the expense of the Japanese Sho Shimabukuro, 158th and like him from qualifying (6-2, 6-1, 7-6). The best result of the 23-year-old Toulousain in Grand Slam is a round of 16 played at Roland-Garros in 2020. In the 100% French duel of the day, Benjamin Bonzi (108th), beneficiary of an invitation, eliminated Quentin Halys ( 70th) in four sets (5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4).
Alizé Cornet’s probable farewell to the US Open
In the women’s draw, Fiona Ferro and Varvara Gracheva were swept away in this first round. Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (18th), finalist of the tournament in 2013 and 2020, dominated Ferro (190th) 6-1, 6-2 in 1 h 16 min. And Gracheva (40th), a 23-year-old Russian player naturalized French at the start of the summer, suffered the law of the American Taylor Townsend (132nd), who had reached the round of 16 in 2019 before disappearing in the first round in 2020 and 2022, with the score of 6-4, 6-2.
Read also: Article reserved for our US Open subscribers: from Moscow to Cannes, the itinerary of Varvara Gracheva, the new number 2 in French tennis
Alizé Cornet (79th) managed to go to the third set but had to bow to the Russian Elina Avanesyan (66th) with the score of 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, in 2 h 34, for what looks like his last US Open. “Chances are, yes. Everything comes to an end “replied the 33-year-old player. “I did seventeen, I really enjoyed it. I would have liked to have done better, but if it was the last, there was a nice atmosphere”she appreciated.
Note, among the results of the day, the surprise elimination of the Dane Holger Rune (4th in the world) by the Spaniard Roberto Carballes (63rd), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Rune, 20, who remained on two Grand Slam quarter-finals, at Wimbledon and Roland-Garros, seemed in physical difficulty during the meeting, grimacing and having a leg massaged. He committed 43 unforced errors and lost serve seven times.