Emil Ruusuvuori fought a full five rounds with the Frenchman.
Emil Ruusuvuori played for four hours in front of a French audience. EPA / AOP
The pinnacle of Finnish tennis Emil Ruusuvuori immediately found himself in a challenging position at the French Open. Opening opponent Gregoire Barrere is ranked 58th in the world, i.e. 12 places behind the Finn, but the Frenchman received almost complete support from the home crowd and received big applause for each of his points.
There were also Finnish flags in the stands, so the Finn didn’t have to be completely alone.
The mass platform eventually won the set 3–2 in favor of the Finn (6–2, 6–7, 5–7, 6–1 and 6–4). The fight lasted a wild 4 hours and 14 minutes and ended with Ruusuvuori’s ace serve.
The Helsinki native was close to winning the second and third set as well, but Barrera managed to break through at important moments and come from behind to win the set. The fourth set was controlled by the Finn and Barrera realized to save energy for the fifth.
The story continues after the picture.
Gregoire Barrere got tired at the third hour. EPA / AOP
The fifth set started after more than three hours of play. Rusuvuori tested his opponent’s backbone by twice breaking Barrere’s pass and holding his own. Ruusuvuori needed a snack break in a 3–0 situation and then won the set 6–4.
Rusuvuori will face the winner in the next round Grigor Dimitrov–Timofey Skatov. Dimitrov from Bulgaria is ranked 29th on the ATP list and Skatov is ranked 124th.
Coincidentally, Barrere and Ruusuvuori will play a “rematch” on Wednesday, as the men will also meet in doubles.
Playing as a pair of Rosuvuori Patrik Niklas-Salminen.
Previously, a big surprise was seen at Roland Garros when he was placed second in the men’s tournament Daniil Medvedev lost to the 175th name in the ATP world ranking Thiago Seyboth for Wild.
Noise hazard continues
On the doubles side Harri Heliövaara and his partner Lloyd Glasspool defeated by the Austrians by Alexander Erler and by Lucas Miedler set 2–1 (7–6, 4–6, 6–3).