PARIS (AP) — Teenager Moïse Kouamé’s French Open run ended when he lost to Alejandro Tabilo 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (9) in the third round on Saturday.
The 17-year-old Kouamé saved four match points but his resistance was finally broken when he fluffed a shot at the net. He walked around the net to hug his Chilean opponent.
Just like in the previous two matches, he entertained a raucous home crowd with his combination of whipped forehands down the line, sharp volleys at the net and improbable retrieves from the back of the court.
Kouamé, ranked 318th, has been quite the showman on his Grand Slam debut, and unleashed two big downward fist pumps after winning the first set. When he broke to level at 4-4 in the fourth set the crowd rose to their feet.
But he could not withstand Tabilo’s relentless accuracy and waved goodbye to the fans at Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Still, his three matches taught him a lot in a short space of time.
“I have had a three-set match, I have had five hours’ match, I’ve had four sets with a lot of stress in this match,” he said, adding that he was happy with how his body held up.
“During matches I didn’t feel cramps almost at all. That was a big question at the start of the tournament,” he said. “If I’m playing long matches for three hours, will my body be able to keep (going)? The answer is yes, so it’s a really positive answer.”
Kouamé is from the Paris suburb of Sarcelles and practiced before his match wearing a Paris Saint-Germain soccer jersey. A little while after his match, PSG won the Champions League final against Arsenal on penalty kicks in a tense final in Budapest, Hungary.
The match was beamed live to 48,000 fans at PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris — only a few hundred meters from the French Open — and PSG fans going there mingled with tennis fans heading to Roland Garros earlier in the day.
The night session match on Court Philippe-Chatrier between No. 4 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and Brandon Nakashima was stopped for a few moments as fireworks went off at Parc des Princes.
Parry Saint-Germain
Earlier on Chatrier, Frenchwoman Diane Parry milked the applause following an upset win against sixth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova. Parry won 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3). Anisimova was the runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year.
Some fans chanted PSG’s club anthem and held up PSG jerseys as she celebrated beating Anisimova.
Parry wore a PSG jersey in her post-match news conference and fans poured into the streets near Parc des Princes and Roland Garros following the team’s win. ___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
