Hugo Gaston's beautiful love story with Paris continues. The Frenchman, aged 21, is a quarter-finalist at Bercy at year's end and has already won his Roland-Garros 2022. He defeated Alex de Minaur, an Australian player, in the first round and mastered Pedro Cachin, an Argentinian loser on Thursday. To advance to the next round, he will need to win (6-4, 6-2 and 6-4).
This Saturday's evening session will feature another pair of sleeves against Dane Holger Rune (two years his junior).
He is about the same age as Alcaraz (19 editor's note), but it is something we talk less about. He has won many titles this year. In May, he was awarded the first title in Munich. He even won here in juniors. Gaston said that he knows that he is a hardworking player and that the match would be difficult.
He has not lost one set to his future opponent in the tournament. Rune defeated Denis Shapovalov of Canada, seeded at ndeg14 in the Parisian Grand Slam. He easily defeated the Swiss Henri Laaksonen (6-2.6-3.6-3).
The Dane won the Bavaria title, as well as the Challenger circuit in San Remo. He reached the semi-finals of the Lyon tournament just before the start, and only a few hours later continued with the qualification in Monte-Carlo. The fortnight. He is not scared by the idea of facing a Gaston in a marathon, pushed by a stadium.
"His results at Roland-Garros are impressive, so it will be a tough-fought match. It will likely be on a large court with many people in the stands. Mentally, I need to prepare. It doesn't matter what, I look forward to it. Rune stated that he is fun and has many variations to his game at a Thursday press conference.
Although they have never met in competition, the men have been friends since last year's Next Gen Masters. They were training together this week.
"It will be fun, he's a person that I like. Both of us saw each other to do the Marseille double and we also played well. He is a great guy on the pitch. It's going to be fun. Gaston warns that he is indeed a friend but won't be one on the court.
The Toulousain is now at the (already) 40th spot in the world. He will need to do everything possible to reach the spectacular stages at Porte d'Auteuil that he reached two years ago to everyone's delight.
