Second day of Roland Garros and a remarkably positive balance for the Argentines this Tuesday, with the great triumph of Diego Schwartzman after being two sets down and the successes of Tomás Martín Etcheverry, Thiago Agustín Tirante -with blooper included- and Pedro Cachín to advance to the second round of the Grand Slam on brick dust. The only bad news was the elimination of Federico Coria.
This Tuesday will be the turn of the debut for four other compatriots: from 6 in the morning (Argentine time), the Bragadian Genaro Olivieri (231st) will face the French Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (237th), not before 9:15 the best Argentine in the ranking will have its premiere, Francisco Cerúndolo from Buenos Aires (23rd)against the Spanish Jaume Munar (81st) and Guido Pella from Bahia (423rd) against the local Quentin Halys (88th), and will close the day, not before 3:15 p.m., the Buenos Aires native from San Martín Sebastián Báez (42nd) against one of the famous locals, Gael Monfils (394th).
It is worth remembering that during the opening day on Sunday, Rosario Nadia Podoroska (103rd)the only Argentine in the women’s draw and semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2020, beat the French Jessika Ponchet (123rd) 6-0 and 6-2 and will play this Wednesday -time to be defined- against the Czech Karolina Muchova (43rd) for the pass to the third round. Meanwhile, the rookie Facundo Díaz Acosta was eliminated (137th).
“Tasty triumph” for Schwartzman
The great note on Monday was given by Peque Schwartzman when he got an outlet that had been denied him for a long time. “I come from many weeks of frustrations, it is a bad moment for me, but this triumph is very tasty due to the constant individual fight to maintain the attitude and concentration”shared the Argentine, number 95 in the ranking.
Schwartmzan overcame a dismal start and earned a ticket to the second round after reversing his match against the Spanish Bernabé Zapata Miralles (38th), whom he finally beat 1-6, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0 and 6-4 in 3 hours and 37 minutes.
This was just the sixth win of 2023 for El Peque (14 losses), who must defend the points achieved last year in Paris -round of 16- if he does not want to continue falling in the ranking. After that elimination with Novak Djokovic in straight sets, Schwartzman’s record is 13 wins and 28 losses. So things, will play again on Wednesday against the Portuguese Nuno Borges (80th), another who had to work extra to get through the round: He beat the American John Isner (90th) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 4-6 and 7-6 (9) in four hours.
Three yes, with blooper included
With much less effort Tomás Martín Etcheverry (49th), of a very good year, sealed his pass to the next phase after the retirement of his rival Jack Draper (55th). The player from La Plata was winning 6-4 and 1-0 when the Englishman said enough was enough due to pain in his shoulder and left hand. Etcheverry will play his next match on Thursday against the Australian Alex De Minaur (19th)who eliminated the Belarusian Ilya Ivashka (73rd) 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 and 6-3.
For his part, Thiago Tirante (153rd), former junior world number one and absolute debutant in Grand Slam tournaments, achieved a notable victory over the Dutch Botic Van De Zandschulp (31st). The 22-year-old native of La Plata, from the qualy, won 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4 and will face Thursday in the second round against Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (71st)winner of Serbian Dusan Lajovic (53rd) 6-1, 4-1 and retired due to injury.
The success of Tirante had extra repercussions since it wasHe from La Plata did not even realize his triumph had barely materialized. It wasn’t until she saw the Dutchman approaching the net to greet him that she woke up. “It could be the blooper of the tournament. I was very convinced that it was 4-3 and when I went to take out the towel I looked at the skinny, to see if he was tense, if he was angry and I see that the skinny was in the net. I looked at the screen and it said 6-4, I got more disoriented, I looked at Javi on my team and he says: ‘Go say hello.’ I went to greet him to tell him ‘sorry I didn’t do it on purpose, he was disoriented’, “he admitted with a laugh.
At the same time, Cordovan Pedro Cachín (64th) scored the victory against Austrian Dominic Thiem (92nd), RG finalist in 2018 and 2019, who is slowly returning to the circuit after a wrist operation that left him out of the courts for more than a year. He went for a changing 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (1), 4-6 and 6-2 in almost four hours to return to the ring on Thursday against the Croatian Borna Coric (16th)who comes from taking out another Argentine, Federico Coria (96th) from Rosario, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 6-3 and 6-3 in 4 hours and 11 minutes of play.
Djokovic, inside
Without Radael Nadal (14 titles) for the first time in 18 years, the great attraction of Roland Garros goes through the Serbian Novak Djokovic and the world number 3 did not disappoint in his debut beating American Aleksandar Kovacevic (114th) 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (1).
The champion of the 2016 and 2021 editions seeks to keep the record of 23 Grand Slams in Paris and will play again on Wednesday, against the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (80th).
The other big contenders for the title are the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (1st), who also appeared with a convincing victory against the Italian Flavio Cobolli (159th) by 6-0, 6-2 and 7-5. The young wonder from Murcia will play on Wednesday against the Japanese Taro Daniel (112th).
While, Russian Daniil Medvedev (2nd) will debut this Tuesday against the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (172nd) not before 8.
Debut number one, Iga Swiatek
This Tuesday will also be the presentation of the current champion and number one in the world, the Polish Iga Swiatek: will be measured not before 10 against the Spanish Cristina Bucsa (70th).
Its main competitor, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, second in the WTA ranking and winner of the Australian Open in Februarysurpassed the first round on Sunday by beating the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (39th) 6-3, 6-2 and will face her compatriot Iryna Shymanovich (214th) on Wednesday.
