Qualified for the quarter-finals of the Metz tournament even though he had never won a match on the circuit and lost in qualifying, lucky loser Kyrian Jacquet (24) came close to a new feat on Thursday against Cameron Norrie. The Briton, 27th in the ranking, finally had the last word in three sets (4-6, 7-6, 6-4) to offer himself his third success of the week against a French player.
No new feat for Kyrian Jacquet. Cameron Norrie, on the other hand, continues his journey in the Metz tournament, where he will play his second semi-final of the season on Friday after the one lost against Novak Djokovic in Geneva last May. The French lucky loser didn’t come far from creating a new sensation. The 156th in the ranking unfortunately came up against – in three sets (4-6, 6-4, 7-6) – against the Briton, who has clearly taken a lot of pleasure in Moselle since the start of the week in bringing down our representatives one after the other.
The 27th in the ranking had dismissed Valentin Royer and Arthur Cazaux for his first two matches, certainly each time in pain. Thursday, in the quarter-finals, this time it was Jacquet who kept the executioner of the Tricolors out of his way, and again not without needing to fight for more than two hours (2h25). For the first confrontation between the two men, it was the surprising 24-year-old Lyonnais who took the lead.
Jacquet, who lost in the 2nd round of qualifying then was subsequently repealed following the withdrawal of Daniil Medvedev before offering himself against Luca Van Assche then Dan Added his first two victories on the main circuit, nevertheless found himself trailing 4-1 in the first set, before completely reversing the situation by lining up five games and winning this first round.
Jacquet will jump twenty places in the rankings
Norrie unfortunately got back to one set everywhere by winning the second set in a decisive game clearly dominated by the Briton (7-2) while neither player managed to take the other’s service despite two opportunities for Norrie and one for Jacquet. Everything then had to be done again for Jacquet, who got the first opportunity to break in this last set while leading 2-1, but without managing to seize the opportunity.
And while the two men were tied 4-4, Stéphane Robert’s protégé completely collapsed on his put-in, which he gave up blank even though he had not failed in his commitment since his second service game in the first set. The striker of Carlos Alcaraz entering Nanterre last week was then able to calmly finish the match behind and climb into the last four for the first time in almost six months.
As for Jacquet, who can console himself by remembering that he had not won a single match on the big circuit before packing his bags in Metz last weekend, he is guaranteed to jump twenty places in the next ranking and thus climb to 136th place. In the absence of a new exploit, it’s still a catch.
