Masters Bercy – Corentin Moutet qualifies for the 2nd round after his victory against Borna Coric

The magic of Bercy has already operated for the Blues. Faced with one of the men in form of this end of the season in the person of Borna Coric (semi-finalist in Vienna last week and 26th in the world), Corentin Moutet was in a way condemned to bring out the big game on court 1 And on Tuesday, he did it to overthrow the Croatian 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2:36 of play in the 1st round of the Rolex Paris Masters. For his next match, the task promises to be difficult but not impossible against the Briton Cameron Norrie, 13th at the ATP.

In Paris, he often transcends himself. Corentin Moutet succeeded again on Tuesday, even though the start of the match left little hope. On the other side of the net, Borna Coric, who has been back in the fore for a few months (consecrated in particular in Cincinnati to everyone’s surprise) and dominated Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hubert Hurkacz in Vienna last week, imposed his rhythm until to lead 6-3, 2-2 and get a break point to make an arguably decisive difference. Back to the wall, the tricolor left-hander then raised his level to tip the game.

A superb lob to reverse the dynamic

What is a game about? Sometimes to a bad appreciation. Led 4-3, 15/30 on his serve, Coric misjudged a comeback from Moutet that he wanted to let out. The ball fell on the line, giving the Frenchman his first two chances on the rebound. The following ? A millimeter lob and a second set won to revive everything. The third act was then a trench battle, with both men having opportunities but failing to seize them.

And in the “money time”, Moutet still had the strongest nerves, carried by an audience won over to his cause. His left-handed paw, his slice variations and his drop shots ended up cracking Coric at 4-4. The Croatian also made more and more mistakes as the game progressed, perhaps as much tired by the fight as by his multiple Austrian battles a few days ago. It was not the problem of Moutet who therefore continued his good series with this 3rd victory in a row after qualifying. A beautiful ray of sunshine.