Gaston and Mayot Advance to the Madrid Masters 1000 Main Draw, Royer Eliminated

Three French players were still in contention to qualify for the main draw of the Madrid tournament. Hugo Gaston, Harold Mayot, and Valentin Royer competed in the second round of qualifying on Tuesday, with a positive outcome of two wins in three matches.

A regular in qualifying rounds at major tournaments, the world No. 80 confirmed his initial victory against Yannick Hanfmann (7-6, 4-6, 6-4). This time, the Toulouse native prevailed over Luca Nardi in straight sets (6-4, 6-2), securing his place in the main draw for the second time in his career after 2023, when he fell in the second round to Borna Coric.

As for Harold Mayot, he will make his third appearance in a Masters 1000 main draw, following Miami and Rome last year. The 23-year-old successively defeated Alexander Shevchenko (6-2, 7-5) and Tristan Boyer (7-5, 6-2) to clear the qualifying hurdle.

On the other hand, Valentin Royer did not enjoy the same success. After his impressive win against Taro Daniel (6-3, 6-2), the world No. 118 hoped to continue his progress. However, despite a strong start against Vit Kopriva, the Frenchman—who came agonizingly close to victory as the two players were decided by a third-set tiebreak—ultimately fell to the Czech (1-6, 6-3, 7-6).