Cruel defeat for Mathys Erhard against the No. 2 seed at Roland-Garros

On a packed Suzanne-Lenglen court due to the rain that fell on the other courts, Mathys Erhard fell to the No. 2 seed in the qualifiers, Alexander Shevchenko. Ranked 97th in the world, the Kazakh was coming off a quarter-final loss to another French player, Mpetshi Perricard.

Erhard started his match in the capital in fine fashion by winning the first set before seeing his opponent equalize with the same score (6-3). The third set was cruel for the 23-year-old player, as, after leading 5-2, the world No. 268 saw the score tighten until the super tie-break and a 10-5 victory for Shevchenko.

Following a defeat at the Tunis challenger last week, the Frenchman displayed a strong performance in front of the 10,000 spectators present in the stadium. Having defeated McCabe in the previous round (6-1, 6-1), he leaves the Parisian Grand Slam with his head held high after a nearly 3-hour battle (3-6, 6-3, 7-6).

For a place in the main draw at Roland-Garros, Shevchenko will face Misolic.