The French day got off to a bad start on the clay court of Madrid. Titouan Droguet kicked off hostilities in the morning with a defeat in front of Argentinian Thiago Agustín Tirante. A backhand two sets to nothing (6-3, 7-5). It was then Lucas Pouille who failed to get rid of the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro. Despite winning the first set, he did not go the distance (4-6, 6-4, 6-4).
We had to wait until mid-afternoon in Spain and a Franco-French duel to finally see a tricolor take a turn. The logic was respected since Corentin Moutet (88th at ATP) won against Terence Atmane (135th) in two sets (6-4, 7-6 [3]). In the process, Grégoire Barrère was unable to do anything against the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis for a dry defeat (6-2, 6-2).
Gasquet resists
It was finally Richard Gasquet (116th), at the age of 37, who brought some color back to French tennis with an authoritarian victory over the Italian Stefano Napolitano (6-4, 6-3). But at the end of the day on the Madrid courts, the French disillusionments continued. Pierre-Hughes Herbert lost to Croatian Duje Ajdukovic (7-5, 7-5). Same fate for Quentin Halys in front of the Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz (6-2, 6-4). Alexandre Muller, after a tight first set but lost in the tie-break (7-6 [7]), retired while trailing 2-0 in the second by Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki. The last Frenchman in the running in the evening, and despite winning the first set, Hugo Gaston also lost to the Serbian Hamad Medjedovic (4-6, 6-3, 6-1).
Finally, Constant Lestienne forfeited against the American Emilio Nava.
2024-04-22 20:46:07
#Masters #Madrid #Gasquet #Moutet #survivors #qualifying
