Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, ranked 58th in the world and a qualifier, won the first match of his career at Wimbledon on Tuesday, beating American Sebastian Korda (21st) in the first round 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3.
Mpetshi Perricard is playing his first Wimbledon at the age of 20 and has never won a Grand Slam match, with two participations so far at Roland-Garros (2023, 2024).
He will face Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (90th) on Thursday to try to reach the third round on the London grass.
The Frenchman, beaten in the third round of qualifying, was drafted in on Sunday after the withdrawal of the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich.
He did justice to this stroke of luck with a very solid match against a player who had reached the round of 16 for his first participation in 2021 but was coming off a defeat in the first round last year.
Just after leveling the match at one set all, Korda received medical treatment on court for an abdominal strain. He appeared to resume play without any particular discomfort.
Then the match was interrupted at 2/1 for Mpetshi Perricard in the tie break of the 4th set. At the restart, Korda took the upper hand and equalized at two sets all.
But the Frenchman started the decisive set perfectly with an opening break to lead 2-0 and then confirm at 3-0. He held his advantage perfectly until the end.
ig/nip
