Benoît Paire had warned: he is not in good shape. « A 30% »he said on Monday, barely out of two weeks of strict quarantine in his hotel room during which he quickly gave up on training. With only three days of preparation in his legs, he experienced a catastrophic start to the match against Fabio Fognini, Wednesday at the John Cain Arena, for the French team’s entry into the contention for the ATP Cup. His good reaction in the second set was not enough (6-1, 7-6 [2]).
The Frenchman, whose right hand was covered with bandages to protect him from the blisters that made him suffer, had started the game with an excellent service game. Then everything went wrong. At 1-1, he served four consecutive double faults. Without touching the ball once, Fognini managed the break. The 28th world is then completely out of his meeting. He made more mistakes and ended the first round with a redacted service game, without a fight. 6-1 in 22 minutes.
Pair scored 5 games in a row but gave in to the tie-break
Encouraged by Gaël Monfils on the bench, Paire continued to sink until being led 6-1, 3-0 in 30 minutes. Moment chosen by Fognini to offer him some points. “You know him, he takes his head”, launched Monfils à Paire, which has broken down, rediscovered desire and a little success. “I gained more points by making woods than normal”, he had fun after a second straight winning let. To which Monfils replied: “Bah continues to make brother woods. “
Suddenly more incisive in the service, more precise on the backhand and less awkward in the forehand, the Avignon player scored five consecutive games to lead 5-3. Fognini, clearly beaten by Austrian Dennis Novak (6-3, 6-2) on Tuesday, smashed his racket to the ground. At 5-4, Pair served to tie a set everywhere. But he was caught by the pressure even as his opponent tightened the game. The tie-break was one-sided in favor of the Italian, who scored the last four points of the game.
With this defeat, France is led 1-0 by Italy before the second single, that of numbers 1, between Gaël Monfils, 11th in the world, and Matteo Berrettini, 10th. The Frenchman has to win to revive his team before the double.
.
