Aurélien Canot, Media365, published on Tuesday January 14, 2025 at 1:45 p.m.
Accustomed to the 2nd round in Melbourne, where he never went further, Corentin Moutet once again made it through the 1st round of the Australian Open by overthrowing the Australian Alexei Popyrin, 24th in the world, on Tuesday, who had won the first set (4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4). Eighth Frenchman to qualify, the Parisian will face American qualifier Mitchell Krueger. As for the favorites, Andrey Rublev was picked off from the start by the young Brazilian nugget Joao Fonseca.
There will be eight French people in the 2nd round of this Australian Open. Corentin Moutet joined his compatriots Benjamin Bonzi, Gaël Monfils, Hugo Gaston, Arthur Fils, Quentin Halys, Ugo Humbert and Arthur Cazaux by winning in four sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4) after 3h33 game of the Australian Alexei Popyrin, 24th in the world and seeded number 25. A stunning victory and with the forceps of the combative Parisian, who once again had to put up a hell of a fight on Tuesday to reach the 2nd round in Melbourne for the fourth year in a row (in six appearances). The second opposition between the two men (Popyrin won in three sets last season on the clay of Monte-Carlo) had in fact started badly for the Frenchman, leading a set to nothing even though he had obtained eleven break points without converting a single one. His opponent took advantage of one of his rare opportunities to achieve the only break of the round, while the two players were tied 4-4, to take the lead.
Nothing can disturb Moutet!
Suffering from back pain, Popyrin then left his mark physically, to the point of sometimes giving the feeling of being close to giving up. More was needed to disrupt the 69th in the world, not at all distracted by the Australian’s misfortunes, nor by the atmosphere, although hostile. This is evidenced by the whistles received by the semi-finalist of the Metz tournament last November. While Popyrin regained color, Moutet continued to stay focused on his game and attack his opponent as soon as he could, without taking the risk of waiting for the local player to make a mistake. He did well, because he won the three sets, thus obtaining the right to face the American Mitchell Krueger (146th), who went through the qualifications and defeated another Australian (Hijikata), in the next match. With the hope of finally reaching the 3rd round in the tournament. In the last match on the program, Andrey Rublev also had a player from qualifying in front of him in the person of Joao Fonseca. Unfortunately for the Russian, the young 18-year-old Brazilian is not a qualifier like the others.
Rublev ejected by prodigy Fonseca
Fonseca is the new nugget of tennis in Brazil and probably one of the future best players on the planet. The world number 9, quarter-finalist of the last two editions but swept aside on Tuesday, learned this (or discovered) the hard way. For his very first Grand Slam match, also the first against a member of the Top 10, Fonseca, who has still not lost a set this year in nine matches, had the opportunity to demonstrate the full extent of his talent, and to prove that he is much better than the 112th place he occupies today. The winner of the Canberra Challenger ten days ago did not deprive himself of it. Executioner in three sets by Rublev (7-6, 6-3, 7-6) after a real demonstration of all his qualities, the prodigy who had already defied all predictions last December by winning the Masters Next Gen, joined Lorenzo Sonego in the 2nd round. The Italian is warned: it is a diamond that only needs to be polished that he will face.
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