Prior to his arrival last week in Paris, Dustin Brown had never won a single match at the French Open; that includes two appearances in the main draw and even a pair of first-round qualifying setbacks. From just about out of nowhere, however, the 31-year-old Brown is showing that it’s never too late to turn things around.
Ranked just outside the direct-entry cutoff at No. 116 in the world, Brown had to earn his place in the 128-man field the hard way. Putting his past Roland Garros struggles behind him, he cruised to straight-set qualifying victories over Marcelo Arevalo, Calvin Hemery, and Daniel Brands. But those were merely appetizers to the main course. Brown now sports his first career main-draw win at the French Open and he has doubled his career win total at the three slams outside of Wimbledon.
Again, Brown had to do it the hard way. His opening-round test against Dudi Sela began on Sunday, only to be delayed with the score in Brown’s favor at two sets to one and 2-1 in the fourth. The remainder of play was cancelled until Monday to the obvious chagrin of the fans, but not before they got a taste of what they had paid to see. In the first set, Brown–whose shot-making fluctuates wildly from wonderfully awesome to excruciatingly brainless, often without warning–delivered a between-the-legs lob winner over a helpless Sela.
“I feel pretty confident in my tweener lob,” Brown said, without an air of jest.
He appeared to feel confident in just about everything in his game aside from one his favorite shots–the serve–when the action resumed Monday afternoon on a jam-packed Court 14 that offered hopelessly long entry lines. Brown stumbled to the end of the fourth set by losing four straight service points, allowing his opponent to break and start the fifth on his own serve. The man who upset Rafael Nadal at the All-England Club last summer was broken twice more in the deciding set, as well.
But everything else was working: forehands, backhands, volleys, drop-shots–he did it all…except another tweener lob. Brown’s impressive arsenal of shots allowed him to break Sela three times in the fifth, including decisively at 4-4. With the match on his racket, Brown served it out in style for a 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 victory that required more than four hours over the two days.
“It was just up and down the whole time and obviously both of us felt the nerves a little bit in the fifth set,” Brown commented. “I’m very happy; it’s the first time that I’ve won a [five]-set match, also. Generally (it was) just a very good experience.
“Me and Dudi have been out there a long time (in our careers). I think a couple years ago losing that fifth set and the whole crowd and everything probably would have thrown me off, but I’m very happy that I kept it together.”
Brown’s reward is a Wednesday date with Jack Sock, who also survived a rain-delayed five-setter. Sock’s battle against Robin Haase had been suspended with score knotted at two sets apiece before the American regrouped to prevail 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-7(3), 6-2.
“He’s definitely a flashy player,” Sock assessed of Brown. “That’s a guy you do expect some crazy shots from; some trick shots. Definitely flair is in his game…. There’s a reason why he’s in the second round of a Grand Slam.”
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