Rolex Paris Masters: the point of happiness at 3 a.m. for Corentin Moutet

Corentin Moutet entered the scene at midnight, scored the final point, a perfect backhand lob just after 3 a.m. (at 3:3 a.m., the tournament record), on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.

He could fall to his knees and scream his joy.

During an intense duel of left-handers against the Briton Cameron Norrie, the Frenchman (64th player in the world) was able to keep the reins to dismiss 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3) the Briton (seeded n°12) who had equalized at one set everywhere by scoring the last 10 points of the set.

Moutet continues to pile up the performances after eliminating the Croatian Borna Coric (26th player in the world) in the 1st round.

Moutet (50 winning points; 6 aces; 72% of points scored on his 1st serve), scored a few inspired points, such as the one planted at the start of the 2nd set following a silky volley caught and propelled from the baseline by Norrie that the Frenchman skillfully delivered thanks to a kick between the legs to pocket the point and stay on the euphoria of the 1st round.

Corentin Moutet who was ousted from the federal structures because of his bad behavior on the courts, thus losing in particular financial aid and his federal coach and who managed, in a tense context, to sign a stunning epilogue at the end of a crazy day marked by the elimination of Rafael Nadal, seeded n°2 (by Tommy Paul) and Daniil Medvedev (seed n°3) by the Australian Alex de Minaur.

For a place in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 in Paris, Corentin Moutet will face Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday.

Inspired, Corentin Moutet victoriously completes a crazy day at Bercy

2nd round results:

(Gre, 5)-Evans (GB) 6-4, 6-4

(EU)-Draper (GB) 6-3, 7-5

(Aus)-Medvedev (Rus, 4 ) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5

(Ita)-Basilashvili (Geo) 6-4, 6-2

(Can, 8)-Ymer (Sue) 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 7-6 (8/6)

(Esp, 1)-Nishioka (Jap) 6-4, 6-4

(Bul)-Fognini (Ita) 6-0, 7-5

(Dan) -Hurkacz (pol, 10) 7-5, 6-1

(Fra)-Fritz (EU, 9) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4

(Esp)-Shapovalov (Can) 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 6-4

(EU)-Nadal (Esp, 2) 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1

(Fra)-Norrie (GB, 12) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3)

Round of 16:

Alcaraz-Dimitrov;

Rune-Rublev;

From Minaur-Tifaoe;

Simon-Auger-Aliassime;

Djokovic-Khachanov;

Musetti-Ruud;

Tistispas-Moutet;

Carreno-Busta-Paul.