Video - When Moutet beat Norrie at Bercy…. at 3 a.m.

When they play in front of their home crowd, French players are often transcended. This is the case for Corentin Moutet, who loves playing in France and is always a difficult player to handle.

During the 2022 Paris-Bercy Masters 1000, the 23-year-old player managed to make it through the qualifiers with victories against Ugo Humbert and Geoffrey Blancaneaux. He then dominated Borna Coric, the Cincinnati winner a few months earlier (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) before continuing against Cameron Norrie.

The Brit, seeded number 12 in this tournament, was favored and had defeated Miomir Kecmanovic (6-2, 6-4) in his debut. The match, scheduled for the final rotation of the night session on the Central Court, started very late, as the previous match between Tommy Paul and Rafael Nadal dragged on. By the time they took to the court, the two men could look at the clock: it was midnight.

But Norrie and Moutet didn’t rush through the match in a hurry to go to bed. The two players delivered an intense battle lasting nearly 3 hours. Carried by a passionate crowd, the Frenchman achieved the feat of winning (6-3, 5-7, 7-6 in 2h51 of play). A remarkable performance for Moutet, who then lost in the next round to Stefanos Tsitsipas (6-3, 7-6).

“I went to bed around 5:30, but I couldn’t sleep. I was just thinking about the match,” Moutet reacted after his performance. In their head-to-head encounters today, Norrie leads with 2 wins to 1. All three matches have taken place in France, and the Brit managed to get the better of Moutet in Lyon in 2021 (7-5, 6-3) and in Metz, in the semifinals of the 2024 edition (6-2, 7-6).