Nearly 4 hours of battle and two match points saved: Moutet had the last word against Cazaux in Hangzhou

The all-French showdown in the round of 16 of the ATP 250 tournament in Hangzhou lived up to its promises between Corentin Moutet and Arthur Cazaux. The two players delivered a thrilling battle, undecided until the last point.

While Moutet and Cazaux faced off in the round of 16 in Hangzhou, China, French tennis was guaranteed to have at least one representative in the quarterfinals, pending the result of Valentin Royer against Andrey Rublev.

In a closely contested match, Cazaux, the lower-ranked of the two Frenchmen (ranked 84th in the world), got off to the better start. After an indecisive first set, he served for the set, but Moutet broke back before clinching a one-sided tiebreak, eventually won 7 points to 1 by Cazaux.

However, the world number 39 didn't give up and broke his opponent's serve at the best moment, leading 4-3 in his favor, to level the match at one set each in the next game. The third set also had its share of twists and turns.

Moutet, continuing the momentum from the end of the second set, broke early but couldn't hold onto his advantage until the end. After missing two match points at 5-4 on Moutet's serve, Cazaux saw his opponent come back. Ultimately, another tiebreak decided the winner.

In this deciding moment, it was the fourth seed who was the strongest (6-7, 6-3, 7-6 in 3h47). The 26-year-old secured his second victory in as many encounters against his compatriot, and thus reached the quarterfinals where he will face Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

This will be the third meeting of the year between the two men after Rio and Monte-Carlo on clay, and the Frenchman will seek to win his first match against the Argentine.