The grayness was not only in the Paris sky on Tuesday, it was also on the courts of Roland-Garros for the French. Grégoire Barrère was the eighth of the nine Blues entered for this last day of the first round to exit, losing in three sets against Alexander Bublik on the Suzanne-Lenglen court (6-4, 7-5, 6-3). The Kazakh, 17th in the world, will face the German Jan-Lennard Struff on Thursday, without pity for the Argentine qualifier Roman Andres Burruchaga (6-3, 6-2, 6-1), for a place in the third round. Which would be a first for him.
Bublik remained in line with an honorable season on clay (round of 16 in Madrid, semi-final in Lyon against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard) to escape the Barrère trap. The latter, 112th in the world, had escaped from qualifying last week and returned to the stadium where he had validated his ticket for the final draw, the Suzanne-Lenglen, where the match was moved due to the delay in the programming on court 14. The bays were still full despite the start of the match at 9:36 p.m., in the hope of some last emotions.
“It was a complicated match to manage, he bothered me a lot”
Grégoire Barrère after the meeting
But a Bublik who was colder and more clinical than he could be sometimes nipped them in the bud. Embarrassed by a percentage of firsts far from his standards (54%), the Kazakh admittedly conceded an entry break in the first two rounds. Except that he always came back methodically to the score, as if he didn’t want to give the audience the opportunity to get excited, and managed the end of the set better. This is where Barrère, inspired at times (on his backhand drop shots, for example), broke down. Author of 37 unforced errors in total, he notably made backhand errors which cost him the first two sets.
Rather interesting to return Bublik, despite being one of the best servers on the circuit (205km/h average in the first Tuesday), the Ile-de-France native also lost rhythm when his opponent began to chain ace, double fault and winning service, before starting again in disorder. “He was very serious, he did zero spoon serves,” Barrère smiled after the meeting. It varied a lot, there was a false rhythm from time to time, it caused me problems to adjust. It was a complicated match to manage, it bothered me a lot. »
As a result, the former 49th in the ATP rankings held on until 2-2, including four break points to gain the upper hand. But once he had conceded his commitment for the seventh time that evening, there was no longer any hope of changing her. And the game ended shortly before midnight, a time when Bublik is used to still being awake.
2024-05-28 22:40:59
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