This Friday October 2 was a great day for tennis and Roland-Garros.
Even if the gauge, set at a thousand supporters because of the sanitary conditions, only allowed a handful of them to be at the edge of the Suzanne-Lenglen court to vibrate during the size performance of Hugo Gaston, winner of Stan Wawrinka.
Here is what to remember from the sixth day of the Paris tournament.
The feat
Hugo Gaston.
It is the young man who goes up.
At 20 and for his first participation in a Grand Slam tournament, the Toulouse left-hander (239th in the ATP) paid himself the luxury of dismissing the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (17th world), by inflicting a scathing 6-0 in the fifth and final set (2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0).
For his first Roland-Garros, benefiting from an invitation, the Frenchman became the lowest-ranked player to reach the knockout stages in Paris, after Arnaud Di Pasquale, in 2002. In the next round, the native of Blagnac climbed from a step up by challenging the Austrian Dominic Thiem (3rd in the world).
Gaston's emotion
đđ«đ· IT'S DONE!
Hugo Gaston inflicts a bubble (6/0) on Wawrinka in the 5th set and brings down the Swiss!
What a MONSTERIOUS feat of the Frenchman who climbed to eighth for his first Grand Slam!
đ„ # RG20
đ„ïž Follow Roland Garros live: https://t.co/Z0SzpLkTvf pic.twitter.com/zRx0FUZ6YE
- France tv sport (@francetvsport) October 2, 2020
The French
Caroline Garcia.
The player got out of a pretty trap and a badly started game against the Belgian Elise Mertens after the loss of the first set.
Sheltered from the roof of Philippe-Chatrier court, the French number two (45th in the world) needed six match points to achieve her goals (1-6, 6-4, 7-5) and see the eighth the final for the first time since 2018. The eldest, 27, has shown the way for youngsters, Clara Burel, 19, and Fiona Ferro, 23, who will play on Saturday for a qualification in the eighth.
The match point
The test
Dominic Thiem.
The Austrian brilliantly passed his first serious examination on the land of Roland-Garros.
Opposed to the Norwegian Casper Ruud, the player on the circuit who had the most victories on clay since leaving confinement (17), the outgoing double finalist needed a set to warm up under the roof of the Philippe Chatrier court.
Ruud, 25th in the world, even took the service of his opponent in the first round, before the Austrian machine started.
Without panicking, Thiem (3rd in the world) ended the game in three sets (6-4, 6-3, 6-1).
He will face Frenchman Hugo Gaston in the next round.
The star
Rafael Nadal.
Second in the ATP, the Spaniard was insatiable, leaving only five games to the Italian Stefano Travaglia, 74th in the world (6-1, 6-4, 6-0).
Whoever aims for a 13th title at Roland will be opposed to the American Sebastian Korda, 213th in the world and resulting from the qualifications.
The number
54.
It is in minutes, the time spent by the Romanian
Simona Halep
to promptly dismiss the young American Amanda Anisimova (19, 29th) in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.
THE MAIN RESULTS
Singles men
Dominic Thiem (Aut / N.3) b.
Casper Ruud (Nor / N.28) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1
Hugo Gaston
b.
Stan Wawrinka (Sui / N.16) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
Sebastian Korda (EU) b.
Pedro MartĂnez (Spain) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1
Rafael Nadal (Esp / N.2) b.
Stefano Travaglia (Ita) 6-1, 6-4, 6-0
Ladies singles
Simona Halep (Rou / N.1) b.
Amanda Anisimova (EU / N.25) 6-0, 6-1
Iga Swiatek (Pol) b.
Eugenie Bouchard (Can) 6-3, 6-2
Elina Svitolina (Ukr / N.3) b.
Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rus / N.27) 6-4, 7-5
Caroline Garcia
b.
Elise Mertens (Bel) 1-6, 6-4, 7-5