“I don’t know what this victory can do to me. We now have the answer to Benoît Paire’s statement during his press conference after his first round against the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro. Because the Avignonnais has done it again, and not against anyone. By beating (6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6) in the second round the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, seeded n° 26, the terrible boy of French tennis silenced all his detractors. For the moment.
For once, and for a very long time, Benoît Paire has not given up. He breaks very early and manages to keep his advantage in the first set (6-4). In the process, he again takes the service of the Bulgarian before being joined at 2-2.
While we expect to see him let go, even freak out, Paire keeps his concentration, breaks again, and ends with the same score. A double fault at the worst moment in the following tie-break deprived him of victory. Far from being discouraged, the Avignonnais immediately made the difference at the start of the 4th set to finally conclude the decisive game.
Not to mention a feat, the performance of the 56th in the world is worth noting. Dimitrov, while also inconsistent, is a Melbourne regular with a semi-final in 2017 and a quarter last year. Above all, it restores interest in the career of the 32-year-old Frenchman, and more broadly in the career of the “old” Tricolors in the Antipodes. A few hours before him, Alizé Cornet, 32 years old in two days, had created the first sensation of the night by releasing the Spaniard Muguruza, world No. 3. Physically diminished, Richard Gasquet, who nevertheless started well against the Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp (n°57), finally gave up in the 3rd round after taking ten games in a row.
Since his little feat (victory against a Top 10) in Cincinatti last August, Paire, who had been deprived of the Olympic Games, had accumulated setbacks. “I’m having a catastrophic end to the season by being completely off the mark,” he said at the time. Affected for the third time by the Covid-19 virus at the end of the year, he continued to drag his discomfort.
It remains to be seen how he will behave in the next round against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, seeded n ° 4 and one of the favorites since the forced departure of Novak Djokovic.