Francisco Comesaña Makes History at Wimbledon, Advances to Third Round

Argentine tennis player Francisco Comesaña continues to make history. This Thursday he made significant progress by reaching the third round of Wimbledon after beating Australian Adam Walton in a long match lasting four hours and eight minutes. The match, which ended with scores of 7-5, 1-6, 6-7(12), 6-1, and 7-6(10-8), allowed the Mar del Plata native to advance to this stage of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career (on Saturday he will face Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who beat his compatriot Luciano Darderi).

At just 23 years old, Comesaña had never competed in the main draw of a tournament of this calibre. Previously, her participations in the 2022 and 2023 US Open, as well as the Australian Open last January, had always ended in the qualifying round. However, her luck changed in London, despite the fact that grass is the surface on which she has played the least throughout her career.

“It’s the tournament of my dreams, I didn’t want to settle for just beating Rublev and today I went for more and I’m very happy to be in the third round,” said the athlete in conversation with ESPN after the match. The current 122nd in the world, who arrived at this Grand Slam without having won an ATP match in his only three appearances at that level, knocked out a player who is ranked 101st in the rankings and had just eliminated another Argentine (Federico Coria, 6-3, 6-3 and 7-5). “At first I didn’t expect to beat Rublev and now I had to go out hungry, and luckily I’m in the third round,” he added.

During the interview, the 23-year-old tennis player explained that “the idea was to enjoy the nerves and to get it in the tie-break match makes me very proud, because it was also difficult with the wind in moments of tension.” With Sebastián Báez, Mariano Navone, the aforementioned Coria, Facundo Díaz Acosta, Francisco Cerúndolo, María Lourdes Carlé, Julia Riera and Nadia Podoroska out of competition at singles level in both the men’s and women’s draws, only the Albiceleste expectations placed on Comesaña remain after the defeat suffered by the other compatriot with chances: Tomás Martín Etcheverry lost to the Australian Alexei Popyrin by 3-6, 6-4. 4-6, 6-4 and 6-3.

“I was a bit hurt by the tie-break, the match was long. He dropped a bit and I took advantage of the drop to take the fourth. In the fifth I was a bit nervous, but when we were in the super tie-break I told myself that I had to enjoy it, not have a bad time and I was able to get through it,” he revealed. “When we planned the match we knew that he plays on the line, that he has timing. The idea was to stop the ball, to hit it hard. At times I was able to do it, but I didn’t want to lose the essence of going to the net,” he admitted.

Being one of the surprises of the tournament caused him to receive thousands of messages, but the young man remains focused on advancing in the competition: “The phone is full. I only asked my coach to speak to my father, my mother and my girlfriend. They are there day to day, in good times, bad times. I got a little emotional.”

To finish, he analyzed the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, his next opponent: “I think it will be a fun match, with slices, going to the net. I am going to enjoy it, like every moment. Even though I get nervous, I smile. I am enjoying being here.”

2024-07-04 16:48:40
#tournament #dreams #statements #Argentine #Francisco #Comesaña #surprise #Wimbledon