There is a massacre at the ATP 250 in Metz, where the packages fall like in Gravelotte. After the withdrawals of Ugo Humbert, Karen Khachanov, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Holger Rune, Arthur Rinderknech also had to give up defending his chances. And it was a player beaten in… the first round of qualifying who was promoted to lucky loser.
Defeated 6-2, 6-3 by Jesper de Jong (109th in the world), Théo Papamalamis (721st and wild card in qualifying) found himself miraculously drafted for the final draw. The young Messin (18 years old) fought with conviction but logically lost to Quentin Halys (6-3, 6-1, in 1h04). The 84th in the world did not have to rule out a single break point.
Defeated by Arthur Cazaux the day before in qualifying (6-0, 4-6, 6-3), Pierre-Hugues Herbert also benefited from this cascade of withdrawals to return to the courts of the Moselle Open on Monday. And the Frenchman took full advantage of this second chance by beating Pedro Martinez in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 [4]). However, he was off to a bad start in the decisive round, broken from the start, but he was able to do his best to come back and snatch the tie-break, 7 points to 4. This is only his first victory of the season on the big circuit . He will face Halys in the second round.
