US Open 2022 – Coric, Gauff, Rybakina… The French qualifiers hit the jackpot

It’s the ruthless game of qualifications. You emerge unscathed from a marathon, and a mountain awaits you. Four Tricolores managed to cross the course. Friday, during the third and last lap, Hugo Grenier came up against Norbert Gombos, but Enzo Couacaud (against another Frenchman, Geoffrey Blancaneaux) passed. Corentin Moutet, he lost to the Chinese Wu but he was drafted as a lucky loser. Both therefore join the French quota of the male table, which will amount to ten units.

The task will not be easy for Couacaud and Moutet. The first will have to rub shoulders in the first round with Borna Coric, seeded number 25. The Croatian abruptly returned to business by winning the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati last week. For Moutet, it will be a prestigious poster against Stan Wawrinka, winner in New York in 2016.

For girls, the mission will be just as complex for Léolia Jeanjean and Clara Burel. Jeanjean, revealed to the general public at Roland-Garros, is trying to get closer to the Top 100. She has only lost seven games in her last two qualifying rounds. But she is doomed to the feat now, since she will face Coco Gauff, finalist at Roland-Garros and title candidate at Flushing. For the other French survivor, it’s not much better: Clara Burel will face Elena Rybakina, the winner of the last Wimbledon.

The Blues who, during the draw, had inherited a qualified, are also fixed on their fate. Caroline Garcia will thus be opposed to Kamilla Rakhimova, lucky loser of the women’s qualifications. Nothing to tremble with? Maybe not no, but to be wary, yes. The 20-year-old Russian has just climbed back into the Top 100 (90th) by winning the Bronx $60,000. Caution, therefore. Adrian Mannarino, in the final in Winston-Salem, does not yet have his eyes on New York, but he too will be against a qualifier, the Dutchman Gijs Brewer, 184th in the world.