Jannik Sinner, Nada's potential rival in the round of 16 (last year he fell against the Balearic in the quarterfinals), suffered a lot to beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert and go to second round of Roland Garros. The 19-year-old Italian, who is already top-20, needed five sets to beat the French doubles player who had him on the ropes with a 2-1 and five break points at 4-3 in his favor in the fourth set. In the end, Sinner prevailed (6-1, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5 and 6-4) and will face his compatriot Gianluca Mager in the second round.
The young talent benefited at the end of Herbert's 62 unforced errors, which landed him 58 winners, 13 of them from direct service. The aggressive game of the Frenchman, whom he had won last year in Cologne (hard court) surprised the transalpine, an excessively cold player at times, although that tranquility allows him resolve with aplomb situations like the one that was presented to him this Monday in Paris.
Medvedev opens in Paris
Daniil Medvedev, who never hides that he does not like to play on clay and had not won a single match in his four appearances at Roland Garros (since 2017), had a convincing debut with victory in three sets (6-3, 6-3 and 7-5 in 1h: 54) against Alexander Bublik, a player as eccentric as unpredictable. After a bad start in the first set, with a break against the start, the Russian got serious, attacked just enough and minimized the mistakes (16) to subdue the Kazakh without excessive problems, who, as always, gave a show. This is how the thorn of the only Grand Slam in which he had not added a win was removed. It is the 12th he has achieved on clay in his entire career.
Casper Rudd (15th) was not entangled by the ups and downs of the controversial Benoit Paire, who this time had the decency to play a good game. Still, he fell by 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 and 7-6 (4) against one of the best players of the year on clay, who was champion a few days ago in Geneva. They will be seen with the Polish Majchrzak, who defeated the French Cazaux (6-4, 2-6, 6-4 and 6-4).
Musetti does not give Goffin a choice
Worst luck was the 13th seed, David Goffin. The Belgian had no options against the promising Italian Lorenzo Musetti (6-0, 7-5 and 7-6 (3) in two hours and 22 minutes), that at 19 years old he already occupies the 76th place in the ATP ranking and this season he has already played two Challenger tournaments finals (in Biella and Antalya) and the semifinals in the ATP 500 in Acapulco and the 250 in Lyon, both lost to the Greek Tsitsipas .
Although it was the first game of his short career at Roland Garros, the transalpine was very confident with 71% of firsts and a balanced balance of 23 winners due to 27 unforced errors (37 and 48 for Goffin). When he had opportunities for the rest (up to 13 breaking balls he enjoyed) he went to slaughter, taking advantage of three in the first set, one in the second and two more in the third, and his bravery was rewarded. On Wednesday, against the Japanese Nishioka, he will be able to raise his ceiling a little more in the Grand Slam on clay.
Results, table and calendar.