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Lorenzo Giustino will surely remember his first victory on the circuit. He came close to breaking the 16-year record for the longest match at Roland Garros.
The Italian qualifier fell back on the clay of court 14 in disbelief after a 0-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), 2-6, 18-16 victory over Corentin Moutet after six hours and five minutes. . The decisive set only lasted three hours.
“It means a lot to me. I think I have improved a lot in these last two years. I believe in myself that I can do something better than I was before,” Giustino said. “I am trying to improve and in all aspects, [the] The mental aspect will undoubtedly be one of the things that I have improved the most “.
Twenty-eight minutes after Fabrice Santoro’s epic victory over Arnaud Clement on the Suzanne-Lenglen court in the 2004 first round (six hours, 33 minutes), Giustino and Moutet’s first-round encounter also lasted two days. It resumed mid-afternoon Monday with Giustino leading 4-3 in the third set. The Italian and his team watched on Sunday as Jurij Rodionov defeated Jeremy Chardy 10-8 in a fifth set, so getting into prolonged play was not a total surprise.
“The funny thing is that we were watching Rodionov’s game against Chardy and I said, ‘No, there is no tie-break in the fifth,'” Giustino recalled. “I said, ‘No, no way, man.’ And then my coaches said, ‘You know you’ll go like … 12-10 [or] something like that in the fifth. I always like this in my matches and look what happened. It is funny.”
Giustino needed a tiebreaker in the final set in his first round qualifying match and won 7-5 in the third set of his second round qualifying match.
Final stats were in favor of Moutet, who gained 242 points overall to Giustino’s 217 and scored 88 winners to 57, but 29-year-old Giustino advanced to a second-round encounter against No. 12 seed Diego. Schwartzman from Argentina.
“My feelings, I don’t know. We played a very long match,” Moutet said. “I don’t feel anything in my body right now. I feel empty.”
Giustino, who is currently No. 156 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, led 3-0 in the deciding set and held a match point at 8-7, with Moutet serving at 30/40. Moutet broke down to serve the match at 14-13 and 15-14, but it was Giustino who decisively recovered from 15/40 when serving at 16-16 en route to victory.
Moutet saved a second match point at 16-17, 15/40, when Giustino hit a long backhand. But the Italian deftly landed a slower forehand that forced Moutet to lunge and ultimately cut the net, on his third match point.
Does Giustino suffer physically after his epic triumph?
“No, no, no. I feel perfect,” Giustino said with a laugh. “Tomorrow I will go for a run because I think I am too cool.”
Moutet, 21, reached his first ATP Tour final in January at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (l. To Rublev) and is now 8-7 in the 2020 season. Giustino is now 1-4 in career games. touring level.
Did you know
Giustino has played 254 ATP Challenger Tour matches, winning a title at that level. This was his fifth tour-level match. Earlier this year, he qualified for the Australian Open. Milos Raonic beat the Italian in straight sets.
