Benoit Paire fizzled. Adrian Mannarino flopped. Lucas Pouille lost. Pierre-Hugues Herbert got stopped. No, it was not an absolutely perfect day for the French fans at Roland Garros. But starved for drama with Gael Monfils on the sidelines, they got what they came to see.
And they got it from perhaps the unlikeliest of sources.
Ranked 164th in the world, Mathias Bourge had not played a single ATP-level match in his entire career prior to this French Open. Then he got a wild card into the main draw, and the rest is history. It started with Bourge’s 7-5, 7-6(5), 7-6(6) first-round win over Jordi Samper-Montana, but that merely set the stage for even bigger and better things on Wednesday.
Of course, the 22-year-old was not supposed to last long against Andy Murray on Court Philippe Chatrier. But that is exactly what he did in a thrilling 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 loss. After surrendering the first set in routine fashion, Bourge stormed back to take the second and the third. During one stretch–from trailing 2-0 in the second to leading 1-0 in the third–the underdog won a shocking 28 of 32 points. He reeled off eight consecutive games, as well, before Murray finally held serve at 0-2 in the third.
“It was completely incredible,” said Bourgue, whose magic finally evaporated after he took an improbable two sets to one advantage. “(It) was the first time for me [on] this kind of court, that big, against a huge player. So I’d like to say thanks to all the crowd [for encouraging] me the whole match. It was really an emotional moment for me, and I will never forget it.”
Even though Gilles Simon has been around longer–much longer–than Bourge, he may never forget what transpired on Court 1 later in the day when he faced Guido Pella. For only the second time in his career, Simon staged a comeback from two sets down on the way to a 4-6, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-4 triumph that needed four hours and 32 minutes to be completed.
Not only did the 18th-ranked Frenchman trail two sets to love, but he also fell behind 4-2 in the third. What eventually turned into a raucous crowd, however, was not about to leave its man for dead. Urged to fight on by the home fans, Simon roared back to tie the third set at 4-4 and he eventually took it 7-5. Despite squandering much of his lead, Pella soon found himself serving for the match at 6-5 in the fourth. But the Argentine could not close the deal, as he promptly got broken and then lost the ensuing tiebreaker.
Although Simon and Pella did not play the longest fifth set of the day (that belonged to Ivo Karlovic and Jordan Thompson in the Croat’s 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 12-10 win), they certainly battled through the most dramatic decider.
During one fifth-set changeover, both men were being visited by trainers. At the same time that was going on, the chair umpire was having a discussion with referee Brian Earley. But the real entertainment took place between the lines. Silencing the crowd as best he could, Pella fought off one match point at 3-5, 30-40 before holding serve to stay alive. That set the stage for an epic 10th game in which the unseeded Argentine saved six more match points–almost all of which featured grueling baseline rallies. In the meantime, Simon survived three break points.
It finally ended when Pella netted a forehand on Simon’s eight chance to clinch victory.
“I went through a lot of different things, but I guess if you really want to know how I feel now is I’m just tired,” Simon said. “There are a lot of other things, I guess, but I can’t really express these now. When you place yourself in that [situation]…you forget all the other stuff. You forget about tactics. You forget about a lot of other things. And you put yourself in survival mode.
“I’m absolutely tired. I think this was my 30th match in five sets. I don’t know how I would rank this one. Maybe, probably in the top five in terms of exhaustion. I remember against Gael (Monfils) in Australia I was completely exhausted. There have been a few others, so probably in the top five most exhausting games I have ever played.
“I’m dead.”
I watched both those matches and they were great!
Wow…wish I could have seen that Simon match….pretty sure that Ricky was there!
I believe Simon is underrated. He’s been higher in the ranks , but it seems to go like that for a lot of guys outside of the top 8. What I like about Simon is his movement, he reminds me of a ballet dancer on the court, you don’t ever really see him run, he just sort of glides. I’m sure he puts a lot of effort in, but it never really looks like it, he makes it look easy. I would take a guess he snow skis. Same kind of gliding motion.
Gillou is by far my most favourite Frenchie (I’m Englishbut live in France) and I have watched him for many years. He always delivers good matches – and is famous for his never say die attitude and is often referred to as the human backboard. His slight frame belies the power he can generate but also makes him vulnerable to injury which is why he often slips down the rankings.
Sadly he will probably have difficulty recovering from last night’s epic in time for his next match his match against Troicki.