Alexei Popyrin has broken more fresh ground in his soaring career as he brightened up a gloomy day in Paris by reaching the third round of the French Open for the first time.
But while the 25th seed was battling his way past Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, 7-5 6-3 6-4 on a drizzle-splattered outside court, Ajla Tomljanovic’s big date under the roof of Court Phillippe Chatrier turned into a bit of a damp squib as she succumbed 6-3 6-3 to 2024 finalist Jasmine Paolini.
The two matches ended within 30 seconds of each other on Wednesday with Popyrin’s delight at overcoming a potentially tricky hurdle in stark contrast to Tomljanovic’s frustration at not being able to offer more of a threat to the Italian No 4 seed amid a second-set fightback.
Popyrin, the lanky Sydneysider who made history last year by becoming the first Australian in a generation to win a Masters 1000 event, always held the initiative against Tabilo, a dangerous opponent on all surfaces who beat Novak Djokovic on clay in Rome last year.
Having ended his six-match losing sequence at Roland Garros in the first round, Popyrin was left delighted to become the first Australian to advance to the last-32 this year – and so far without dropping a set.
He will now play the Portuguese player Nuno Borges after he beat an injury-hit Casper Ruud (7) 2-6 6-4 6-1 6-0.
On an awkward morning with dark clouds gathering and spots of rain threatening stoppages throughout, Popyrin was also grateful at getting an efficient job done in two-and-a-quarter hours before the rain began to settle in and interrupt the programme.
Rewarded for his more attacking approach against the southpaw counter-puncher, Popyrin was ahead in all the key departments, firing 37 winners to Tabilo’s 25, making 10 less unforced errors than the Chilean and proving more adventurous with his 37 sojourns to the net, winning 76% of those points.
His six breaks of serve were answered by just a couple from the Chilean, with the key moments really emerging near the end of a tight first set when, after having an earlier set point repelled amid Tabilo’s counter-attack, Popyrin finally broke through after 50 minutes.
Victorious in the boys’ championship at Roland Garros eight years ago, Popyrin is now enjoying his best run at the Paris slam at the end of a claycourt season in which he reached quarter-finals in Monte Carlo and Geneva.
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Popyrin finally got the job done with a brilliant cross-court winner, just before a double fault from Tomljanovic finally ended her more robust second-set effort against Paolini.
After her opening-round win over young Aussie star Maya Joint, Tomljanovic had harboured some hopes that a similar all-out attack might unsettle the Italian.
Instead, Paolini largely proved the aggressor, maintaining the form that’s just driven her to become the first home Italian Open champ for 40 years. In a match where both players shared 58 errors between them, it was Paolini’s 24 winners, including some striking work at the net, which demonstrated her superiority.
