The 2023 tennis season started last week in Australia, in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, but the festivities began in Melbourne on Monday. While the enclosure which hosts the first Grand Slam of the season is still in full preparation, Hugo Gaston hastened to qualify for the next stage.
Before arriving, the Frenchman had prepared in Canberra last week and lost in the round of 16 to the Swiss Leandro Riedi (6-4, 6-2). But for his debut in the second largest city in the country, the Toulousain, who did not obtain a wildcard, flew over the meeting against the Belarusian Egor Gerasimov. On court number 5, at 10 a.m. (local time), about twenty people were present to watch a pleasant tennis match, in almost perfect weather conditions. Gaston overpowered his opponent from the first to the last minute and started the game with three aces and a first shutout. From the third game and with a break in advance, he quickly took over and concluded the first set in less than half an hour of play (24 minutes, 6-1).
Discreet as usual, we only heard a ” come on “ from the French when he won this first set. Too imprecise, his opponent was quickly distanced. With 33 unforced errors and only 48% success on his first balls, Egor Gerasimov barely existed in the game. He still won an important break point to stay alive in the second set, but it wasn’t enough. A short-lived hope quickly erased by a new break converted by Gaston (67% success for the Frenchman).
The second round seemed even easier for the Toulousain who chained winning points (18), aces (6) and shutouts. As usual on the court, Hugo Gaston was everywhere. On each point. He even won 11 of his 12 points attempted at the net (92%). In total, he won 55 in the game against 27 for his opponent. A great performance to start the 2023 edition of the Australian Open and an important victory for confidence. Here he did no better than the first round (in 2020 and 2022). The left-hander will now have to win against another Frenchman in the next round, Alexandre Muller who has already reached the second round of the tournament in 2021.
Premier tour (H)
Hugo Gaston (No. 7) bt E. Gerasimov (BLR): 6-1, 6-1
Alexandre Muller bat James McCabe (AUS): 7-6 [2]6-7 [4]6-3
Yu-Hsiou Hsu (TAI) bat Evan Furness : 7-6 [5]6-2
Enzo Couacaud bat Hugo Grenier (n°28) : 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 [10-3 au super tie-break]
Antoine Bellier (SUI) – Laurent Lokoli
Geoffrey Blancaneaux – Marco Trungelliti (ARG)
Matheus Ponicelli De Almeida (BRE) – Benoit Pair
Antoine Escoffier – Zsombor Piros (HON)
Manuel Guinard (n°31) – Andrea Pellegrino (ITA)
Premier tour (F)
Leolia Jeanjean (n°9) beat Irina Bara (ROU) : 7-6 [5]1-6, 7-6 [10-7]
Clara Burel (n°17) bat Elsa Jacquemot : 6-1, 6-2
Selena Janicijevic bat Robin Anderson (USA) : 6-3, 6-2
Zoe Hives (AUS) bat Harmony Tan : 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
Alexandra Cadantu-Ignatik (ROU) bat Carole Monnet : 6-2, 6-0.
Jessica Ponchett – Katie Swan (GBR)
Kristina Mladenovic – Maddison Inglis (AUS)
Chloe Package – Barbora Palicova (RTC)
