Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Tuesday November 5, 2024 at 6:10 p.m.
Hugo Gaston qualified for the round of 16 of the Metz tournament, unlike Adrian Mannarino. Qualified for the Masters, Andrey Rublev had indeed held his place in the afternoon and qualified for the quarters…before abandoning the tournament due to abdominal pain.
There will be at least five French people in the round of 16 of the Moselle Open. Hugo Gaston joined Corentin Moutet, Richard Gasquet, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Quentin Halys this Tuesday by having another tricolor, Titouan Droguet, entered the table as a lucky-loser following the withdrawal of Ugo Humbert. The world No. 81 won 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in 2h04 against No. 174, whom he had already beaten at the start of the season in Marseille. Gaston, who had two defeats in a row, managed to tame his opponent's service, author of 16 aces. In the first set, there was not a single break point and Gaston managed to win it in the deciding game (8-6) after saving a set point at 5-6. But Droguet (23) started the second set strong, leading 4-0 then 5-1. The Toulouse man managed to save a set point and erase one of his late breaks (3-5), then obtained two balls of 5-5, before finally giving up the set (4-6). The first four games of the last set ended with breaks (2-2), and at 4-3 in his favor, Gaston showed his greatest experience (it was only Droguet's fourth match in an ATP tournament ) by breaking his opponent, before ending with a shutout. So here he is in the eighth, where Zizou Bergs awaits him.
Bu sends Mannarino on vacation
The 25-year-old Belgian, 61st in the world (the best ranking of his career), defeated another Frenchman, Manuel Guinard (264th), a lucky loser following Arthur Cazaux's withdrawal. He won 6-4, 6-4 in 1h22 during this match where he did not have the slightest break point to defend. A break at 0-0 in the first set and 1-1 in the second allowed him to win, and to challenge Gaston, who had won their only duel, on the ground of Oeiras in 2021. Other French on the program this Tuesday, Adrian Mannarino is now on vacation. He in fact lost 7-6, 6-4 in 1h36 against Yunchaokete Bu, although less well ranked than him (72nd against 54th). The Chinese served 8 aces and saved the 3 break points that the Frenchman got (all at 3-3 in the first set), yet author of 9 aces on his side. The first set went in favor of Bu, winner 7-4 in the tiebreaker, then a break at the start of the second set allowed him to win. Next opponent: the Dutchman De Jong. Adrian Mannarino, world No. 22 and French No. 2 at the start of the year, concludes a difficult season, marked by 21 defeats in 24 matches between February and August, in 65th place in the rankings.
Rublev, package, goes to Turin
Earlier, Andrey Rublev entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed. Officially qualified for the Turin Masters since midday and the withdrawal of Novak Djokovic, the Russian no longer needed to go hunting for points in Moselle but still wanted to play his round of 16 against Lorenzo Sonego (51st). He also won 7-6, 7-5 in 1h53, serving 6 aces and never being broken (and saving a set point at 6-5 in the first set). But he felt abdominal pain during this match and announced after his victory that he was withdrawing from the rest of the tournament. He will head directly to Turin for treatment, and the winner of the Moutet-Struff match in the evening will therefore qualify without playing for the semi-finals.
