Emil Ruusuvuori defeated Gregoire Barrere in five sets in his opening match of the French Open after more than four hours of battle.
Sakari Lund,
Joel Sippola
Emil Ruusuvuori won the longest match of his career when, in his opening match at the French Open, he beat the French By Gregoire Barrere 6–2, 6–7(7–9), 5–7, 6–1, 6–4. The match lasted 4 hours and 14 minutes.
The match between Ruusuvuori and Barrere was known to be hard-hitting, as both like to speed up the ball. That’s what it turned out to be.
Ruusuvuori and Barrere, ranked 58 in the world, had met once before, in the 2020 Rotterdam ATP tournament qualifiers. Then the French was better.
In Tuesday’s match, Ruusuvuori got off to a strong start when the Frenchman’s shots did not stay on the field and the Finn led 4–0. The opening set went to Ruusuvuori 6–2.
Also at the beginning of the second set, Ruusuvuori took a break, but Barrere improved his grips, broke back and the set eventually went to a break game. Ruusuvuori cleared several set points, but Barrere finally took the tiebreak 9–7.
The third set went to the Frenchman, who at times made really spectacular shots, but Ruusuvuori took the fourth set clearly and led the fifth as well 4–0. Barrere joined in once more, but Ruusuvuori managed to pass the match home.
– It was another match. There was time for everything to happen when we were on the field for four and a half hours. Many times monentum passed from one to another.
– The beginning was good. In the next two installments, it was about really small things. You couldn’t get the best out of it in the decisive moments. The fourth set was a pretty clean performance. In the fifth, he got the crowd on his side, which made things more difficult again.
Rusuvuori plays next in doubles tomorrow Patrik Niklas-Salminen with. In the second round of singles, he will face Bulgaria Grigor Dimitrov.
– I have never played an official match against him. We have trained together 1-2 times. He is a really talented tennis player and really aggressive. He moves excellently and the skill is there, Ruusuvuori analyzes Dimitrov.
Also Harri Heliövaara moved on. The fifth placed Heliövaara and Lloyd Glasspool the Austrians won in the opening round of the doubles by Alexander Erler and by Lucas Miedler 7–6(7–3) 4–6, 6–3.
– There were the worst draws that can happen in the first round. This was an excellent tennis match. We had incredibly good teamwork. Even though we were behind in the third set, we believed and played with commitment, Heliövaara said.
Ranked second in the tournament Daniil Medvedev dropped out of the continuation right in the opening round. of Brazil Thiago Seyboth Wild defeated Medvedev in five sets 7–6, 6–7, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4. Medvedev hasn’t enjoyed himself on the mass courts, but just a couple of weeks ago he won the Rome Masters tournament.
Updated 10:53 p.m.: Added Ruusuvuori’s comments
Ruusuvuori and Heliövaara were interviewed by Helen Scott-Smith