Two more top ATP Tour stars are safely through to the second round of the 2022 French Open. No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev looked back to his dominant best as he won for the first time since returning from his injury layoff.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, last year’s losing finalist, is also through, although he suffered an almighty scare in as he needed to come from two sets behind to beat a 20-year-old Italian.
Speaking of scares, Andrey Rublev came perilously close to getting kicked out of the tournament after an angry outburst. Meanwhile, French veteran Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said ‘adieu’ to his tennis career at his home Grand Slam after his first-round defeat.
Read on below as SBOTOP shares the latest French Open 2022 news in the men’s singles tournament.
Daniil Medvedev dominant in first-round win
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev followed in the footsteps of French Open favourites Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as he delivered a dominant 6-2 6-2 6-2 first-round win over Facundo Bagnis.
It was the Russian’s first win since returning from a six-week injury layoff due to hernia surgery. He lost in Geneva to Richard Gasquet on his return to the ATP Tour.
Just like in his match against Gasquet, Medvedev’s service game was rusty against Bagnis as he committed seven double faults and put just over 50 per cent of his first serves in play. But he made up for his sloppy serve by firing 35 winners and breaking Bagnis’ serve eight times as he won in just one hour and 38 minutes.
Medvedev, who is hoping to regain the No. 1 ranking he lost earlier this year, will next face Laslo Djere in the second round. Djere defeated Medvedev in their only head-to-head meeting back in 2017.
Stefanos Tsitsipas rallies from two sets down
In contrast to Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered a major scare in his first-round match as the No. 4-ranked player on the ATP rankings fell two sets down to 20-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
But the Greek, who recently lost to Djokovic in the Rome final but is among the favourites to win this year’s tournament according to the French Open 2022 odds, battled back to claim a hard-fought victory, 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.
“Things don’t come easy. I refuse to give up. That’s simply how it works with me,” Tsitsipas said. “You never really think about getting back after being two sets to love. You just play it point after point. You just wish that your efforts will pay off on a longer scale, longer run.
“Being in that situation… it’s a mountain that you have to climb, and I was able to climb it and regain the momentum steadily, but consistently.”
Tsitsipas will next take on Czech qualifier Zdenek Kolar, who knocked off France’s Lucas Pouille, in the second round.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bids adieu at French Open
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s tennis career came to an end after losing his first-round French Open match to No. 8 seed Casper Ruud, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (0).
The 37-year-old Frenchman, who made the French Open semi-finals twice, announced last week that he would be calling time on his 18-year professional career after this year’s tournament.
Early on, there was hope that Tsonga’s career would last at least one match longer as he won a first-set tiebreak against Ruud. However, the Frenchman would proceed to drop the next two sets.
Tsonga rallied to force another tiebreak in the fourth set, but he suffered a shoulder injury which left him severely limited. After calling for a medical timeout, Tsonga proceeded to lose the tiebreak 7-0.
“The crowd was amazing today, supporting me and giving me the power to fight,” Tsonga said after the match. ” I finished on the court playing like I did throughout my career. It’ll always be a good memory. In a way, I finished like I wanted to finish.”
Andrey Rublev almost hits court sweeper with rage smash
Andrey Rublev’s anger very nearly cost him dearly in his French Open first-round match.
The No. 7 seed came from a set down to defeat Kwon Soon-woo 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-2 6-4 to advance to the second round. But things could have gone much worse for the Russian as he almost hit a court sweeper in the head with a ball which he smashed in an angry outburst.
After losing the first set in a tiebreak, a frustrated Rublev smashed a ball that bounced off his chair and came dangerously close to hitting a court sweeper in the head.
Had the ball actually hit the court sweeper, Rublev likely would have suffered the same fate as Novak Djokovic, who was infamously disqualified from the US Open in 2020 after he unintentionally hit a line judge with a ball he hit in anger.
Rublev was only handed a code violation and was allowed to continue the match, which he eventually won. He later apologised for his actions.
“I lost my mind for a moment, and of course I regret what I did,” Rublev said after the match.
“It’s unacceptable to hit the way the ball I hit it. Better if I just hit the racquet on the seat, because the ball can affect someone.
“This is unprofessional from my side, and hopefully I will never do it again.”
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