A scare in the second set but victory: Mpetshi Perricard reaches the third round of the Shanghai Masters 1000

In a rough patch, Mpetshi Perricard reassured himself by dominating Luca Nardi in Shanghai.

After Bonzi, Mannarino, and Humbert, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard was the fourth French player in action this Friday during the second round of the Shanghai Masters 1000.

The 32nd seed was up against Luca Nardi for his opening match. The Italian, ranked 88th in the world, had eliminated Sebastian Ofner in his first match (3-6, 6-3, 6-2).

The two men had never faced each other on the main tour before this encounter in the Chinese city. Mpetshi Perricard, who had lost four of his last five matches heading into this meeting, started well.

A break in the middle of the first set allowed him to take control and consolidate on his service games to win the set. The pattern was the same at the start of the second set, and the Frenchman quickly broke his opponent's serve.

But just when he thought he had done the hard part, Mpetshi Perricard, serving for the match, ended up losing his serve at the worst possible moment. Ultimately, and after nearly failing to hold his next service game despite leading 40/0, the 6'8" player had to play a tie-break, but, being more solid, he eventually won it (6-3, 7-6 in 1h38).

Mpetshi Perricard reaches the round of 16 of the Shanghai Masters 1000 for the first time in his career. This is only the second time this season that the Frenchman has reached this stage of the competition in this category of tournament, after Indian Wells.

For a spot in the quarterfinals, he will have to overcome Taylor Fritz or Fabian Marozsan, who face off later this Friday on the Center Court.