There was everything to have fun and give it away, but Hugo Gaston did not seize the opportunity in the second round of the Australian Open. Defeated sharply by Taylor Fritz (6-0, 6-3, 6-1) in 1h28, the Toulouse player never seemed concerned either by the game or by the stakes.
On the Kia Arena, this short show with 5,000 seats, all rounded, with ideal proportions to generate the best Grand Slam atmospheres, facing a prestigious opponent, 12th in the ATP ranking and in weather that has returned to spring after the morning rain , the lucky French loser had everything to enjoy. And above all not much to lose against an opponent launched on his best surface after a first round completed in five sets despite a sprained ankle.
Surely to the great despair of his coach Younes El Aynaoui, whose fighting qualities have never been called into question during his career, Gaston literally botched his entry into the game. As in the last round of qualifying, where he suffered a severe defeat (6-0, 6-2), he let the first round pass without registering a single game as if he was in a hurry to finish it. It lasted 22 minutes, he passed 57% of first balls – winning only 5 points out of 13 behind them -, without moving his legs or advancing in the field to try to destabilize his opponent as his coach hoped before the encounter.
Against his will, Fritz’s length and ball speed deprived the 23-year-old of time. But his 3 winning points, almost blindly hit, for 11 unforced errors in the first set, spoke more of casualness than of helplessness. An impression reinforced by incomprehensible body language at this level of the competition, as when he bounced his racket on the ground several times, hand on hip, before the start of the second set.
During this one, Gaston showed himself a little more concerned. The games went slower and he made the effort to get a break point at 4-2 for Fritz. But the latter chained winning service, ace and passing to erase any idea of rebellion at the end of a round which lasted twice as long as the previous one (40 minutes). The last was a copy and paste of the first, Gaston ending his demonstration with a 30th unforced error.
2024-01-17 07:25:04
#Gaston #exist #Fritz #Australian #Open
