Alcaraz, Zverev, Dimitrov, Rune… the challenges of the five French survivors of the 8th

In Bercy,

Contrast. A year ago, French tennis hit rock bottom with only one representative in the second round (Humbert) and none in the next round. Twelve months later, change of scenery. There are five of them in the round of 16. Record equaled. Unheard of since 2009 in Paris (Benneteau, Monfils, Simon, Tsonga, Clément) and at the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo in 2016 (Paire, Pouille, Simon, Tsonga, Monfils). How many will there be in shifts? This Thursday, they will not be favorites on paper.

From 11 a.m., Adrian Mannarino will open the Blues program on the Central with a round of 16, a priori affordable, against the Australian Jordan Thompson. Val d’Oisien also leads 5-3 in its duels with the 28^e global. A good omen for reaching his first quarter in eastern Paris at 36?

In the third rotation on the Central, Arthur Fils will try to overthrow Alexander Zverev, world No. 3. The 20th^e world remains on a victory against the German in the final in Hamburg. He lost in their first two duels. Drafted after the withdrawal of world number 1 Jannik Sinner, Arthur Cazaux ignited the Accor Arena on Wednesday evening by bringing down Ben Shelton. The Montpellier native, who is playing his first round of 16 in the Masters 1000, will face a new member of the top 20, Holger Rune (13th), whom he beat in three sets in the 2nd round of the Australian Open in January. Scheduled on court 1, this clash will certainly be a crowd-pleaser.

From 7 p.m., the evening clash will pit Blues leader Ugo Humbert against world number 2 Carlos Alcaraz. Led 2-0 in their face-to-face, Messin notably delivered an encouraging performance in four sets against the Spaniard in 8^e final of the last Wimbledon. “The match was fabulousrecalled Humbert. In two sets, I watched him play. There were 7 set points in the second where I was a little too wait-and-see. In the third, I started to let go, to play my luck to the fullest. I felt he was wavering. In the fourth, he did very well. There was a 4-3, 0-40. I was close to pushing him to fifth. Afterwards, we played in Spain at his home (in the Davis Cup). He had a great match. He said he had almost the best match of the year. It’s going to be completely different. I’m going to have the audience behind me. This is the kind of match I love to play. When I knew that potentially I could play him, it motivated me to win my first two matches.

Big challenge to conclude this crazy Thursday with Arthur Rinderknech facing Grigor Dimitrov, finalist of the tournament in 2023. The Bulgarian won their only face-to-face, this year in the quarter-final in Marseille.

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