In one of the Franco-French duels reserved for the 1st round of the Metz tournament by the draw, Kyrian Jacquet, drafted after losing in the 2nd round of qualifying, overthrew the qualifier Arthur Van Assche (4-6, 6-3, 6-4). The 156th in the ranking, invited by the organizers, will face another Habs: the lucky loser Dan Added in the 2nd round.
Terence Atmane against Hugo Gaston, Arthur Cazaux against Adrian Mannarino and Kyrian Jacquet against Luka Van Assche. The draw for the Metz table had reserved its share of duels between French players in the 1st round of the Lorraine tournament. After Gaston sharply ejected Atmane on Sunday while Cazaux had dominated Mannarino with more difficulty, it was the turn this Tuesday of Jacquet (24 years old) and Van Assche (21 years old) to enter the track.
A match which should not have taken place, however, since the first lost – in the 2nd round against the Briton Jan Choinski – in qualifying. The second had to fight – he had each time won in three sets – against the Briton Harris and the Tunisian Echargui (also drafted afterwards), but he had the merit of validating his ticket for the big draw without having to wait to be drafted as had been the case of his compatriot and therefore opponent of the day.
The two players, tied 1-1 before meeting on Tuesday, had already faced each other twice on the lower circuit but never before on the main circuit.
Jacquet will face another drafted Frenchman
History will record that this first opposition in an ATP tournament turned to the advantage of the one who thought he would have to pack his bags before the tournament even started. Thanks to a successful first break at the very end of the first set, the 172nd in the world took the lead against the 156th in the ranking, also older than him.
However, this was not enough for Van Assche, ex-63rd in the world, who had stopped at the start of qualifying for the Rolex Paris Masters ten days earlier. Jacquet, who was also beaten in his first qualifying match in Nanterre, dominated the next two sets to finally win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after 2h30 of play.
The fourth Frenchman to obtain the right to continue in this tournament won last year by Benjamin Bonzi, who withdrew this year, the Lyonnais will be opposed in the 2nd round to one of our other representatives: Dan Added.
Like Jacquet, the 204th in the ranking should not have appeared in the table before Felix Auger-Aliassime, who should have been seeded number 1 this week in Moselle, gave up. The Canadian’s withdrawal after his final in Nanterre also propelled Hadd to the next round without playing.
