Arthur Cazaux qualified for the second round of Wimbledon for the first time in his career, thanks to his victory in five sets against the Belgian Zizou Bergs (6-1, 6-4, [2] 6-7, [4] 6-7, 7-6 [8]) after more than 4.5 hours of play, Monday July 1st.
It is a performance that should not be trivialized. Firstly because it is the first time that the Montpellier player has won a match at Wimbledon, then because he had not won a match since the end of February on the main circuit, and finally because of the scenario at the end of the match.
After more than four hours of a very fine fight, Arthur Cazaux (98th in the world) and Zizou Bergs (82nd) had to go through a super tie break in the fifth set to decide.
Bublik on the next round
And while he was leading 8-2 in this final decisive game, the Hérault player saw the Belgian come back to level (8-8), with two serves to follow for his opponent.
But Cazaux kept his nerve in a tense moment, earning himself a match point with a magnificent return winner on a serve-and-volley from Bergs, before winning the match with a service winner after 4 hours 39 minutes of play.
Clutch Cazaux \ud83d\ude24
Arthur Cazaux comes through a five-set rollercoaster against Bergs to book his place in the second round at #Wimbledon for the first time, 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(4), 7-6(10-8) \ud83c\udfa2 pic.twitter.com/kUS9UOGux6
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) https://twitter.com/Wimbledon/status/1807839991386759605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
All this to qualify for the second round in London, where he will face the Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik (23rd in the world).
Cazaux leads by two and zero before being caught
Before this breathless super tie break, the Montpellier native had ideally started his match against Bergs. As declared to Midi Libre, he appeared very sharp physically and not at all bothered by his ankle, twisted in Barcelona in mid-April. So much so that Cazaux led two sets to zero (6-1, 6-4), even making the Belgian lose at the end of the second set.
Even getting a break point at the start of the third, without managing to take “Zizou’s” serve during this first game, or all the others. Bergs even came back to 2-1 thanks to a well-conducted tie break ([2] 6-7).
In the fourth set, the pattern repeated itself with only one break point on both sides that Cazaux obtained at 3-2, again without effect, before losing the tie break again ([4] 6-7).
A breathless end to the fifth set
The last set was more open between the two men, without any break point being converted.
Whether it was 2-1 and 3-2 for the Belgian or 5-5 for the Frenchman. Before a final breathless service game for Cazaux at 6-5, who managed to bring his opponent into the super tie break after five game points. To beat him better, a few minutes after the victory of the French team against Belgium, in the round of 16 of Euro 2024.
