Hugo Gaston wins against Corentin Moutet in the first round of the Marseille Open 13
Hugo Gaston is the second round of the Open 13 in Marseille. Tuesday evening, the 68th in the world dominated his compatriot Corentin Moutet (6-4, 6-4). In this duel of left-handers, where amortizations and small game at the net multiply, it is the youngest, Gaston (21 years old), who emerged victorious, more regular and much less overtaken by his emotions than his opponent.
In the middle of the second set, when he had a break lead (3-2), Moutet (22) was adapted out of his match. The 107th at ATP, warned for exceeding time on the return earlier in the game, was annoyed by the medical timeout taken at the previous change of side by Gaston, bandaged in the left thigh as soon as he entered the court then massaged by the physio.
“I have a forehand of breakage dog, it’s terrible”
“Which is more disruptive for the server: six seconds or three minutes (the time of Gaston’s medical timeout)? »Moutet asked the chair umpire before repeatedly calling out to the supervisor, seated at the edge of the center of the Palais des Sports, next to Sébastien Grosjean, captain of the Davis Cup, and Paul-Henri Mathieu, director of high level at the FFT, both silent spectators of the scene.
At 3-2, 30-0, Moutet made four gross forehand mistakes and stupidly lost his break lead. “I have the forehand of a junkyard dog, it’s terrible”he launched before, at 4-3 for Gaston, to resume his animated discussion with the supervisor until the end of the change of sides: “Which is worse for server concentration: six seconds or three minutes? It’s a simple question, answer me. Why are you here watching the game if you don’t answer? Why are you here if you don’t answer any questions? You don’t know, you need to think? »
At 5-4 in favor of Gaston, Moutet saved four match points, in particular thanks to a good presence on the fly, but, too irregular, with for example two amortized volleys in the net, he gave in on the fifth. In the second round on Thursday, Gaston, who was looking for his first main draw victory of the season after four failures in a row (Sydney, Australian Open, Montpellier and Rotterdam), will challenge the world 4th and seeded number 1 of the Open 13, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.