At Roland Garros, Dimitrov gets off to a quiet start and Rublev makes life difficult for himself

© AFP

Elio Valotto

le 26/05/2024 à 15h07

1 min to read

Dimitrov Kukushkin Marozsan Martinez Roland Garros Rublev

Grigor Dimitrov and Andrey Rublev are the first two members of the top 10 to qualify for the second round of the French Open. While for the Bulgarian, the first round seemed like a long, quiet river, the task was a little more arduous for the world's 6th-ranked player.

Opposed to Aleksandar Kovacevic (88th), Dimitrov played a serious match. Without shining, he was diligent and aggressive without overdoing it (35 winners, 16 unforced errors, 8 aces). Glued to his baseline, he deprived an opponent who was simply not strong enough of solutions (6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in 1h56). Having qualified for the second round, he will meet the winner of the match between Marozsan and Kukushkin this Wednesday.

For his part, Rublev once again gave himself a fright. Far superior to his opponent, Japan's Taro Daniel, he showed himself to be unusually nervous and finally needed more than 3 hours of play to get through (6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 in 3h13). Imperial on serve (17 aces, 89% of points won on first serve) and overpowering in the exchange (79 winners, 49 unforced errors), he lacked realism, leaving his opponent to hope. Despite a few outbursts of nerves, the Russian nevertheless held his nerve and will now take on Pedro Martinez in the next round, who beat Tirante (5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in 3h58).