ITALIAN QUALIFIER LORENZO Giustino outlasted France’s Corentin Moutet 0-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 18-16 today in the second longest match in French Open history at six hours and five minutes.
World number 157 Giustino secured his first Grand Slam main draw and tour-level win after a final set lasting 180 minutes in a match held over from Sunday.
Moutet won more points than Giustino — 242 to 217 — but the 29-year-old journeyman emerged the victor in a contest that fell 28 minutes short of the tournament’s record marathon tie between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement in 2004.
Giustino will advance to play 12th seed Diego Schwartzman for a place in the third round. He is guaranteed at least €84,000 in prize money — more than he made all of last year and doubling his earnings in 2020.
“In the end, well, the most aggressive, the guy who tried to win won the match,” said Giustino, adding he felt “perfect” despite the gruelling workout.
“Both I think we don’t want to lose the match. Nobody made a mistake in the important points, both we were like super solid and we played our best tennis in the best and most important points.
“So, of course like this you go 18-16 in the fifth. But in the end it was just like super aggressive. I mean, try to hit winners because I knew that him was not giving me the match.”
Giustino had lost all four of his previous tour-level matches and reached a career high of 127 in August last year.
As for Moutet, it was a bitter pill to swallow for a player who made the third round at the US Open as well as last year’s French Open.
“My feelings, I don’t know. We played a really long match, so I don’t know. I don’t feel anything in my body right now. I feel empty,” said the 71st-ranked player.
Rafael Nadal began his pursuit of a record-tying 20th men’s Grand Slam title with a straight-sets victory.
Nadal, 34, needs one more Slam to match Roger Federer’s record but has described the defence of his Roland Garros crown as the “most difficult ever” given the cold and damp conditions of a tournament delayed four months by the coronavirus pandemic.
The second seed defeated Egor Gerasimov, the world number 83 from Belarus, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to launch his assault on a 13th French Open title, 15 years after his debut triumph.
“I am happy, honestly. I did the things that I had to do. I didn’t expect much more,” said Nadal.
He smacked 32 winners to just 20 unforced errors to down Gerasimov, one of 31 men entered into his first French Open main draw.
“I don’t want to make any mistakes. It’s a different Roland Garros this year and the weather conditions are very challenging, but we are here to try our best,” added Nadal, who faces Mackenzie McDonald in round two.
