The first day of this stranger Roland Garros in the Parisian autumn it ended with a very favorable balance for the Argentine delegation, with four wins and just one fall, precisely the one suffered by Federico Delbonis in a compatriots’ duel against Juan Ignacio Londero.
To the victories that Federico Coria and Nadia Podoroska obtained earlier, those of Diego Schwartzman and Londero, all within a cold and rainy day at times in the Bois de Boulogne.
Schwartzman, who starts as 12th favorite, needed only one hour and 47 minutes to overcome Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-0, 6-1 and 6-3, in what was his strongest Grand Slam triumph. The Peque awaits in the second round the winner of the clash between the French Corentin Moutet and the Italian Lorenzo Giustino, suspended by the rains on the night of Parisian Sunday.
“I was very solid. The conditions of the field were similar to those of Rome by the schedule and I felt comfortable”, expressed Schwartzman in a virtual press conference. The world number 13 thus consolidated his good moment, after the historic triumph against the Spanish Rafael Nadal in the recent Masters 1000 in Rome, where he lost the final against the world number 1, the Serbian Novak Djokovic. Kecmanovic had just come from winning the Kitzbühel tournament a couple of weeks ago.
“It was good to play my first game here at night. It’s a totally different feeling at this Roland Garros. Everything is different for the balls, for the month in which it is played, for the weather. That’s for everyone, so you have to adapt and do your best. For me, it was similar to Rome, very similar to last week, so I felt very good, “added Schwartzman, perhaps one of the few who felt comfortable with the weather on the first day.
“I come with a lot of confidence and it is good to start well. I don’t know yet who will be my next opponent, but I do know that I will have a couple of days off. What I did in Rome helped me to recover,” said Peque, who ended good numbers: he captured 9 service breaks, won 61 percent of the points played with the return, and with a favorable balance between winners (32) and unforced errors (28).
Conversely, Londero won a tremendous five-set battle against Delbonis by 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 2-6, 1-6 and 14-12, in 4 hours and 54 minutes action, and after saving a match-point in a fast-changing match. In the second round, the Cordovan will play Italian Marco Cecchinato, 110th in the world and semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 2018.
“The game was a roller coaster, tennis went up and down”, accepted the Topo Londero. “I was fighting with my head, because it did not go well for me since the beginning of the year. I appreciate that I was able to close a very hard game emotionally. In the first and second sets I had a good attitude, but later, until 4-1 [para Delbonis] in the fifth set it seemed that they had taken me off the court and put me elsewhere. In the end, the fifth time I served for the game I was able to close it. I rescue that I was able to bank it very well despite everything that was happening, “said the Cordovan.
Londero was very critical of the environment in which he had to debut: “The conditions were the worst I played in my life. There was a tremendous wind all the time, garúa, the last half hour there was an intense drizzle, the balls were totally wet … as conditions were very difficult. At one point the supervisor came in to see if it was suspended, because it was raining a lot. It was getting dark, it was cold … The only thing similar to last year is the club and nothing else. Then. everything is different. But it is what it touches and you have to put the best face on it “.
“Playing here this year is a good Roland Garros, why [hace unos meses] We didn’t know if we were going to be able to play, and having the chance is good. You have to win round by round. but here they are all difficult rivals. I won today as I could also lose, and on Wednesday I already have a complicated rival (Cecchinato), but at this moment I think that we are privileged to be playing a tournament “, Londero concluded before a query from THE NATION.
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