Mathieu Warnier, Media365: published on Monday July 1, 2024 at 11:00 p.m.
The first day of Wimbledon saw only half of the twelve French players competing on the London grass make it past the first round, while two French-French clashes were on the programme this Monday.
Humbert holds his own, Janvier and Van Assche too short
Luca Van Assche did not enjoy his repechage for long. While the door to the main draw at Wimbledon had closed in front of him with a defeat against Lucas Pouille in the last round of qualifying, the Woluwe-Saint-Lambert took advantage of Dominik Koepfer’s withdrawal to get a seat. But, even against a Fabio Fognini who is never at ease on grass, the Frenchman was unable to get through (6-1, 6-3, 7-5). After getting noticed in Roehampton with his particular cries of joy, Maxime Janvier also suffered a tough comeback when facing the number 32 seed Zhizhen Zhang. Indeed, if he gave an illusion in a first set lost in the deciding game, the 225th in the world suffered the law of the Chinese in the following two (7-6, 6-3, 6-2).
It took a French-French confrontation to see a Tricolore reach the second round of “The Championships”. The battle was great between Gael Monfils et Adrian Mannarino. If they shared the first two sets, it was the Parisian who ended up making the difference (6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4) and joining Stan Wawrinka in the second round. After a duel between experienced players, it was the turn of the young guard of French tennis. Between Alexandre Müller et Hugo Gastonthe fight was tough and tense but, each time, it was the 102nd player in the world who had the last word for a victory in three sets (6-4, 7-6, 7-6), which reserves him a mouth-watering duel against the number 5 seed Daniil Medvedev.
It’s finally Arthur Cazaux who will remain the first Frenchman to have earned his place in the second round without facing a compatriot. However, the 98th player in the world was very scared when he saw Zizou Bergs erase a two-set deficit thanks to two decisive games and then take him to the super-tiebreak in the fifth. At the end of a match lasting more than four and a half hours, the Montpellier player had the last word (6-1, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 7-6) and joined the number 23 seed Alexander Bublik. Ugo Humbertseeded number 16, also had to fight to overcome Alexander Shevchenko but a one-sided fifth set allowed the Metz player to overcome the obstacle (6-1, 4-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-1).
Only Gracheva and Burel are smiling
After having won over the French public at Roland-Garros, Varvara Gracheva opened her Wimbledon journey with authority. Facing Lesia Tsurenko, the Frenchwoman was able to ignore a complicated start to the match to then unfold and win in two sets (6-3, 6-1), which allows her to join another Ukrainian player, the number 28 seed Dayana Yastremska in the second round. Clara Burel also had a satisfactory start to the tournament. Facing the German qualifier Eva Lys, the Rennes native was able to make the difference in each of the two sets to win with ease (6-2, 6-4). It is another player from the qualifiers who will face her in the second round, the British Sonay Kartal.
Pour Diane Parrythe step was perhaps too high. Opposed to Naomi Osaka, back at Wimbledon after a five-year absence, the Niçoise first knew how to return the favor to the former world number 1. After losing the first set by scoring only one game, she made her opponent suffer the same fate. But, with experience, the Japanese knew how to make the decision in the last set (6-1, 1-6, 6-4). Elsa Jacquemotfor her part, took little advantage of Victoria Azarenka’s withdrawal, which allowed her to enter the main draw at the last minute. Facing Sloane Stephens, not known for her prowess on grass, the Tricolore tried everything but it did not work out for her with a defeat in two sets (6-3, 6-3).
