Moutet after victory over Krueger: "It was an emotionally complicated match".

On Thursday, Corentin Moutet secured his place in the third round of the Australian Open.

Despite a scare in the third set of his match against Mitchell Krueger (the Frenchman led 5-2 40-0 before finally winning the set in the tie-break), the world No. 69 will see the Round of 16 in Melbourne for the first time in his career.

In a press conference after the match, Moutet, 25, reacted to his victory and regretted his lapse of concentration in the middle of the third set.

"I can't control the moments when he was very good. I was under water for a set and a half. I didn't have too many solutions.

But in any case, in the third set, at 5-2, I played a little too quietly. I lacked a bit of humility to finish the set. It could have been a trap.

He got back into it and had another very good period, from 5-3 to the end of the set. I could have had a better attitude in that 5-2 game, been more humble.

That's the lesson to learn. It was an emotionally complicated match. He's a lower-ranked player, so everyone thinks it's an opportunity to go through to the third round," asserts Moutet.

"In people's minds, it's a match I can't lose. But when you know tennis well, you know that these matches aren't easy.

Even if he's lower ranked, he's still a very good player. I came onto the court expecting a big match. And he surprised me.

I'd never played him before. For a set and a half, he was pretty impressive.

I'm really happy because, despite that dip in the third set, I was really solid throughout the match, always looking for solutions, trying to play better, to be more aggressive. I had to be courageous," he explained, according to L'Équipe.