For the very first time in his career, Alexandre Müller is playing the Washington ATP 500 tournament this week. The world n ° 39 made its debut this Monday in 32nd finals against Kazakh Beibit Zhukayev, 218th and from qualifications. And French has qualified without incident. He thus put an end to his series of five losses in a row, he who had not won for two months, day to the day, and his victory over Alexander Zverev in Hamburg (defeat in quarters on German land, then from the outset to Roland-Garros, Halle, Majorca and Wimbledon, where he had still taken a set in Djokovic).
Müller won 6-4, 6-4 in 1h26, despite the 14 aces of his opponent. From the first game of the match, the French managed to Breaker, on his first opportunity. He then missed two break balls at 2-0 then saved two to 4-3, and pocketed the set on a white game, at 5-4.
And now, Rune!
The second round, on the other hand, did not badly started to Müller, who lost his entrance service. But he managed to break up immediately. The two players then held their service, not without difficulty, up to 4-4, then the Frenchman made his experience speak to take the service of his opponent, then conclude at 5-4 on his put into play. So here he is in the knockout stages and virtually to his best ranking (38th).
His next opponent will be of a completely different caliber, since it is Holger Rune, n ° 9 in the world and seeded n ° 3 of the tournament. The Danish had beaten the Frenchman in an Italian challenger on clay in 2021, but he remains on an elimination in the first round of Wimbledon by Nicolas Jarry. Also note this Monday in the American capital the qualification of Matteo Arnaldi in the American capital on Monday against Daniel Altmaier (4-6, 6-2, 7-6) and that of Ethan Quinn against Christopher O’Connell (6-3, 6-2).
