Giustino Wins Three-Hour Fifth Set 18-16 For First Tour-Level Win

Lorenzo Giustino will certainly remember his first tour-level win. It came close to breaking the 16-year-old record for the longest match at Roland Garros.

The Italian qualifier fell back onto the clay of Court 14 in disbelief after a 0-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(3), 2-6, 18-16 victory over Corentin Moutet after six hours and five minutes. The deciding set alone lasted three hours.

Twenty-eight minutes shy of Fabrice Santoro’s epic win over Arnaud Clement on Court Suzanne-Lenglen in the 2004 first round (six hours, 33 minutes), Giustino and Moutet’s first-round encounter also stretched over two days. It had resumed mid-afternoon on Monday with Giustino leading 4-3 in the third set.

The final stats were in favour of Moutet, who won 242 total points to Giustino’s 217 points and struck 88 winners to 57, but it’s 29-year-old Giustino who advanced to a second-round meeting against No. 12 seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

Giustono, who is currently No. 156 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, led 3-0 in the deciding set and had held one match point at 8-7, with Moutet serving at 30/40.

Moutet broke to serve for the match at 14-13 and 15-14, but it was Giustino who decisively bounced back from 15/40 when serving at 16-16 en route to victory.

Moutet saved a second match point at 16-17, 15/40, when Giustino hit a backhand long. But the Italian cleverly placed a slower forehand that forced Moutet to lunge and, ultimately, slice into the net, on his third match point.

Moutet, 21, reached his first ATP Tour final in January at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (l. to Rublev) and is now 8-7 on the 2020 season. Giustino is now 1-4 lifetime in tour-level matches.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3jp0UUt