Roland Garros: Etcheverry beat a Top-20, experienced “incredible sensations”, and is in the third round for the first time in Paris

Tangos play in Paris. And they don’t clash. Is that, at the beginning of the fifth day, the Argentines continue with an almost perfect harvest on the clay of Roland Garros. This first Thursday it was Tomás Martín Etcheverry who achieved a great victory by beating the Australian in three sets alex deminaur from which he is separated by more than 30 steps in the ATP ranking (his rival was the seed number 18) to advance to the third round of Roland Garros.

It is the first time Etcheverry, 23 and world number 49, has reached this stage of a Grand Slam tournament. He did so after easily dominating his rival to finish with 6-3, 7-6 (2) and 6-3, in a match lasting two hours and 36 minutes.

And he celebrated it in a very apparent way by cheering the audience with his arms after his victory, in what was the first duel by an Argentine tennis player of the six scheduled for this day on the red clay of Roland Garros.

Etcheverry, who lost in the first round last year, took advantage of his height (1.95m tall) to print a very physical game, constantly sending very deep shots to the back and corners of the court to make his rival run .

The Argentine made the most of break serve opportunities (4 for 8 against his rival’s 2 for 9) and beat the Australian in almost every aspect of the game.

De Minaur made 53 unforced errors, compared to 30 for the Argentine.

“It’s an incredible feeling (being in the third round), it was something I wanted, that I had come looking for. I played an important match, in the second set it was a bit complicated but I did it, which was a great motivation because otherwise the match would have ended, it’s been a long time and two zero sets have changed me”, began Tomás.

The La Plata player referred to some unforced errors he made early in the match: “It was difficult for me to start, but then I felt comfortable.” He also referred to the four chances he had to close the second set which finally ended in a tie break: “It was tough, tough. I turned the page quickly and took a quick lead,” he analysed.

Etcheverry awaits the winner of Cachín and Coric who played a real battle: “For sure now I’ll see them a bit. It will be another battle, to prepare for Saturday,” said Tomy.