Gilles Simon prolongs the pleasure: at 37 and for his last Roland-Garros, he emerged victorious on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in his first round match against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno (18th in the world) 6-4, 6- 4, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4 in 3:54. In a football stadium atmosphere created by a few hundred brave supporters who braved the cold and the night, Simon emerged victorious from one of these extended matches of which he has the secret. After winning the first two sets, he let himself be dragged into a fifth set where he looked like he had to let go after his faceoff was quickly lost.
HUGE GILLES SIMON �� The 37-year-old Frenchman, who will retire at the end of the year, eliminates Pablo Carreno Busta (seeded n°16) 6-4 6-4 4-6 1-6 6-4 on the 1am shots!@GillesSimon84
But he hung on, as usual, and, leading 3-4, he lined up three games in a row, taking advantage of a double fault followed by a long unforced fault from Carreno to win and give the right to face the American Steve Johnson (92nd) in the second round. The former world number 6, down to 158th, announced on May 7 that his body could no longer keep up, he would end his 20-year career at the end of the year.
In the other match of the evening, Stefanos Tsitsipas, world number 4 and outgoing finalist, got out of the trap embodied by the young Italian Lorenzo Musetti (66th) after being led two sets to zero. At half past midnight, and after 3h 34min of the match, Tsitsipas had the last word 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. “Things weren’t easy for me in the first two sets, I didn’t feel very good mentally, something was like disconnected,” he explained. “But I made a good effort. »
