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Hugo Grenier and Tristan Lamasine seize the opportunity in Antalya

Because of the very particular situation at the start of the season, which has pushed players ranked between 100th and 240th place to focus on qualifying for the Australian Open, which begins on Sunday in … Doha, it There were some good things to do this week at the ATP 250 tournament in Antalya, Turkey.

Two French people jumped at the chance: Hugo Grenier (24 years old, 250th ATP) and Tristan Lamasine (27 years old, 271st) both crossed the first round, this Friday, respectively against the Slovak Alex Molcan (313rd) and the Belarusian Egor Gerasimov (78th).

Originally from Montbrison, in the Loire, Hugo Grenier had never walked a short of the main circuit, except qualifying. It was on Sunday that he learned he could make the final draw in Antalya, when he was still seventh on the waiting list for qualifying for the Australian Open. The choice was therefore obvious: direction Turkey!

And his very first experience went perfectly well. Or almost … Led 3-1 by the Slovak qualifier Alex Molcan, he then unrolled his tennis, from the height of his 1.96 m, to come off 7-5, 4-1, serve to follow. “But at 30-0, I felt a big pain in my left thigh. I heard a crack. I then tried to change my way of playing, to shorten the points, to go to the net, to modify my gestures in the service. It bothered me a lot and I think if it was back to 5-5, I would stop. “

Molcan returned to 4-5 but Grenier managed to conclude (7-5, 6-4 in 1h30). “I am obviously even happier with my choice to have come here but I am afraid of having damaged my quadriceps, I must go and consult the physiotherapist for the rest …”

Lamasine will face Bublik

No physical alert, on the other hand, at Tristan Lamasine (271st). At 27, the Ile-de-France played this Friday morning, in Antalya, the eighth game of his career on the main circuit and he won his third victory, against the Belarusian number one, Egor Gerasimov (28, 78th ATP). Lamasine dismissed a ball in the first set, 5-4 on an opponent’s service, before winning the set in the tie-break (8-6) then flying over the second act (7-6, 6-2 in 1h31 ‘).

This is the eighth time that Lamasine has beaten a member of the top 100. He is enjoying his week in Turkey: “At the base, I wondered whether to participate in the qualifiers for the Australian Open, but once we knew that they would take place in Doha, which suited the players, not obliged to a long and complicated trip to the other side of the world in the current context, we knew that it was going to be as usual, that everyone was going to do them and that I was therefore not going to reach them with my ranking. So I signed up for qualifying in Antalya, because I was pretty sure to get in, but I still couldn’t imagine directly entering the final draw! “

Arrived on Friday evening, tested immediately, Lamasine has had an extremely pleasant stay since his negative result on Saturday at the beginning of the afternoon: “We are really good here. We can train easily. We circulate masked, we are not allowed to leave the hotel complex where the tournament takes place, but we can circulate inside, go to the edge of the swimming pool or on the beach. There are a few tourists but it is quite quiet. Some players came with wives and children. We have a dining room where there are only the participants. It’s really relaxed. “

In the second round, Tristan Lamasine will face the Kazakh Alexander Bublik, 49th player in the world.

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