As always with Corentin Moutet, there was action, cascading serves, magnificent drop shots, atmosphere in the stands, and above all… a qualification at stake. Corentin Moutet offered himself, for the first time in his career, a place in the round of 16 at Roland-Garros after dominating Sebastian Ofner in four sets (3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1) .
In any case, everything was perfectly thought out from the start to spend another night of magic with Moutet. The meeting, planned on the Simonne-Mathieu, was first rescheduled on the Suzanne Lenglen because of the showers, promising an even more beautiful atmosphere under a roof with well-known resonances. The 79th in the world (25 years old) made perfect use of it from the start of the match with an entry break and an ace with a spoon to delight an audience already committed to his cause.
A fall and tension
But night fell slowly, and so did the Frenchman. A very bad fall at 2-1 made people fear the worst for his left knee. But more fear than harm for Moutet who was able to get back into the flow of his game, without immediately getting back into the flow of the match. The Parisian dropped five of the next six games to concede the first set (6-3).
Long extinguished – a new break conceded at the start of the second set – the spark was reignited when the native of Neuilly-sur-Seine had his back to the wall facing the powerful forehand of the Austrian (45th in the world). Moutet ended up doing everything to avoid it, to the point of cracking Ofner on the backhand side and winning the second set after 4 consecutive games won (6-3, 4-6).
But the tricolor did not stop there and preferred to push his evening opponent to the end, offering himself an entry break in this third round which promised to be decisive. The mano a mano then began between the two men, both as tense as the other, going blow for blow… their service up to 4-4. Moment chosen by Moutet to tighten the game, push Ofner for the 13th time to make a mistake in this set and move in front!
In front of a melting Suzanne Lenglen, who alternated all evening between the Marseillaise and “Mouuuutet, Mouuutet!” » endlessly, Moutet disgusted Ofner in the fourth set from the start to race towards victory. The rest of the evening was just a slow triumphant march facing an Austrian, on his knees, lost to a Moutet who was as fanciful as he was pragmatic at the end of the match.
Once his arms were raised after an ace on the second ball, and a first qualification in the round of 16 assured, Moutet was able to smile again. “Well done to us,” he said directly to the public at the end of the meeting. We were strong! Thank you for your support. It’s a pleasure to be in our second week here. It’s a dream of mine. I saw Nadal win 25 times here (laughs). I hope to go even further. »
With him, all of French tennis, particularly moribund this year again, is finding a little smile again. Here is finally a tricolor in the second week of the Parisian Grand Slam! See you on Sunday against the Italian Janik Sinner, world number 2 and winner of the last Australian Open. Suffice to say that he will have to take out a few more magic tricks from his hat.
