Hugo Gaston set fire to Paris and ended up scorching Carlos Alcaraz at the stake. The Spanish lost to the French gamer 6-4 and 7-5 in 1h: 43, who know will face this Friday (7:30 p.m., Movistar Deportes and Vamos) in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1,000 to Daniil Medvedev. The first time that he accesses that round in a tournament of this category.
The ‘wonder boy’ from El Palmar locked himself on the track of the Palais Omnisports de Bercy, now renamed AccorHotels Arena, with Gaston, from the previous 21-year-old, 103rd in the world (will rise to 67th), which came from eliminating Pablo Carreño and that she has magic in her wrists. A skilled tennis player very much like ‘bleu’, with a lot of hand, who was unveiled at Roland Garros 2020 where he reached the eighth to excite his country. The one from Toulouse managed to equalize the Spanish’s breaks twice in the first set to achieve a third break and go crazy to the stands exploring impossible angles and drawing left in front of the most powerful tennis of Alcaraz.
“Hugo, Hugo!”, The public chanted with the tricolor flag in the wind while doing the wave. Already hot because of the electric game that Medvevev had previously shown to overcome Sebastian Korda by 4-6, 6-1 and 6-3 in the match that opened the session. A full stadium that made the wave and smelled the blood of the one who is also seen there as the heir of Rafa Nadal.
In his ‘firsts’ season, fueled by complacency on all courts by novelty and insulting quality, Alcaraz also experienced for the first time the sensation of having a whole stadium against him. In the second set, the 18-year-old Spaniard launched himself, had a 5-0 and with 5-1 he served to equalize the game … But he did not know. It clouded over. Three consecutive breaks by the fine French left-hander cost him the game in a stadium that ended up singing ‘La Marseillaise’ for the triumph of one of his own. You learn from everything.
RESULT, TABLES AND CALENDAR