At Roland Garros, Moutet topples Jarry again in a fiery atmosphere

He is the fifth Frenchman to qualify for the second round today. Faced with a confident Chilean (a finalist in Rome), Moutet repeated the performance he achieved in Santiago: toppling Nicolas Jarry (6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0). Although victorious, the Frenchman had been marked by the hostile reception he had received in March and was determined to give Jarry the same hell he had endured back then.

On the Court Simone Mathieu, he put his words into action.

Corentin Moutet was able to keep his feet on the ground and rely on an enthusiastic crowd to master a somewhat disappointing world No. 16 (51 unforced errors). Indeed, the tense Chilean giant let himself be dominated in the first two sets (6-2, 6-1), delivering some very imprecise tennis. On the other side of the net, more focused than ever, Moutet, whose name keeps being called out, remained solid on serve and used effective drop shots.

In the third set, doubt set in. Nicolas Jarry seemed to have recovered from his early break point. But this was without counting on the Frenchman's determination and the crowd's ebullience, which sometimes bordered on fair play. Solid on the return, precise and agile, the 79th-ranked player in the world produced the perfect match, taking the fourth set and the match (34 winners, 17 unforced errors).

This benchmark victory, his first of the fortnight, should do the 25-year-old left-hander a world of good. In the second round, he will face an opponent clearly within his reach, as he will play the winner of the match between Karatsev and Shevchenko.

One thing's for sure: "This is Paris!