Hugo Gaston is talking about him again. The Frenchman won the first round of Roland-Garros 2022 against Alex De Minaur (4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 [10-4]). The 74th player in the world made the seeded number 19 doubt, before cracking him in the 5th round.
In a short Suzanne-Lenglen sparse in places, due to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s last match on the Chatrier, Hugo Gaston rekindled the flame that had allowed him to beat Stan Wawrinka and take Dominic Thiem to the 5th set in the eighth of final in 2020. The Toulousain harangued the crowd several times, undoubtedly above all to convince himself that he had the weapons to get rid of his opponent, lacking references on clay (two second rounds at Roland-Garros).
The public responded to him in an electric atmosphere. Beaten in the first set, Gaston followed up with two convincing sets, taking the Australian’s serve six times. De Minaur then seemed without answer, forced to look for solutions with his clan.
After multiplying the faults (40 in the first three sets), the machine was finally settled. The Australian failed only three times in the fourth set, coming back up to a stinging 6-0, cooling Lenglen at the same time. The start of the last round went in the same direction, with three games won by De Minaur. Difficult for Gaston to speak his game of amortization against “The Demon”, one of the fastest players on the circuit.
Once again, Hugo Gaston sought public support to get back into the game. First to unbreak, then to defend his serve to cheers (3-3), and above all to snatch the Australian’s serve from a shutout and lead 5-4. But the French did not know how to conclude on his service, an eloquent symbol of a match where the two players fought on their face-off (48 break points, including 21 converted). Determined not to do things simply, Gaston broke again… only to lose his service behind.
Under the cries of an audience transcended by the scenario, the super tie-break smiled on the Frenchman, capable of raising his level a notch at the best time. He concluded the meeting with a cushioning, before savoring the communion with the spectators. Hugo Gaston is already doing better than in 2021, where he lost at the start to Richard Gasquet. He will face Argentinian Pedro Cachin, 153rd in the world, in the second round.