Corentin Moutet (69th in the world) qualified on Tuesday for the second round of the Australian Open by beating the Australian Alexei Popyrin (24th), physically diminished from the second set.
Moutet, who won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, is the 8th and last Frenchman to qualify for the second round, out of a total of 13 entered in the men’s draw.
He will try to qualify for the first time in his career for the 3rd round of the Australian Open against the American Mitchell Krueger (146th), from the qualifiers, whom he has never met before.
After fighting for more than an hour to win the first set, saving 9 break points, Popyrin called on the physiotherapist at 3-2 in favor of the Frenchman in the second set, complaining in particular of pain in his lower back.
The Australian, who beat Moutet at the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo last year, returned to the court to the encouragement of his audience after five minutes of treatment, managing to save his faceoff and equalize at 3-3 .
On the verge of giving up, he lost the next seven games, leaving Moutet to take the set 6-3, then lead 4-0 in the third set.
But a spoon serve from the Frenchman, sent into the net, woke up the spans of the John Cain Arena, which exploded with each point scored by a weakened Popyrin. Trailing 5-2, the Australian even broke the Frenchman, who finally tightened the game to win 6-4.
Much tighter, the fourth set saw Moutet break at the best moment, at 4-4, then conclude on his third match point after more than 3.5 hours of play.
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