The match ended with Hugo Gaston recording an unlikely victory over Alex de Minaur by a score-line of 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 (10-4).
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It has only been a few days since the 2022 French Open began and the Grand Slam is already living up to expectations. An absolute classic of a tennis match was played in the very first round on Tuesday between Hugo Gaston and 19th seed Alex de Minaur which lasted five whole sets and then a tie-break. Elsewhere, Norway’s Casper Ruud beat veteran French tennis player Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in a four-setter. The best part? Three of those four sets went to tie-breaks. Denmark’s Holger Rune shocked 14th seed Denis Shapovalov with a straight sets win while world no. 1 Novak Djokovic made short work of Yoshihito Nishioka.
Fans of tennis at the Suzanne Lenglen Court were in for an absolute treat as Alex de Minaur and Hugo Gaston played out an absolute thriller of a contest. The match ended with Gaston recording an unlikely victory over De Minaur by a score-line of 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 (10-4). The last set, especially, kept fans on the edge of their seats. The stats paint an incredible story as well. The Australian scored nine aces while Gaston could only manage one. De Minaur, however, committed eight double faults, six more than his opponent. The Aussie had a win percentage of 59% on the first serve while Gaston recorded 57%. On the second serve, the Frenchman had the superior figure with 56% compared to his opponent’s 47%. De Minaur scored 11 out of 22 break points while Gaston managed 10 out of 26.
Tsonga and Ruud had an absolute thriller of a contest at the Philippe-Chatrier Court that ended with the Norwegian scoring a fantastic victory. The score-line at the end of the match 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) in Ruud’s favour. The Norwegian scored seven aces against Tsonga’s five. The Frenchman committed three double faults whereas his opponent only made one. On the first set, Ruud recorded a win percentage of 75% whereas Tsonga managed 72%. The gap was much wider with Ruud recording 59% and Tsonga recording 39%. The Norwegian scored four out of 10 break points and Tsonga managed two out of seven.
Reigning Bavarian Open champion Holger Rune shocked Canadian tennis player and 14th seed Denis Shapovalov. The score-line at the end of the match was 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) in the Dane’s favour. Shapovalov smashed six aces in the match but also committed six double faults. Rune’s figures in those categories were zero. The Dane had a superior win percentage on both the first and second serves with 72% and 75% respectively compared to Shapovalov’s 65% and 64%. Rune also scored five out of nine break points while Shapovalov only managed one out of three.
Read More – How an unseeded Hugo Dellien ousted a two-time finalist in round one of Roland Garros
Top seed and world no. 1 Novak Djokovic eased past his first round opponent Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-1, 6-0. He will face Slovakian tennis player Alex Molcan. Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev had his work cut out for him against Soon-woo Kwon of South Korea. Rublev had to come back from a set down to win the match 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Daniil Medvedev has not had a great clay season so far but managed to earn a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win against Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis in his first round tie.
