The second set turned out to be a rollercoaster, marked Paire’s service game step-up. There were 11 consecutive holds before Paire had a set point out of Pouille’s errors; however, Pouille still managed to construct a backhand lob to secure his first game point before his backhand winner secured the second set tie-break several points after.
Paire started the tie-break erratically while Pouille was solid on his serve, eventually had an unreturned serve for his match point to 6-1. The tables started to turn on Paire’s serves (with some unreturned ones), add that with a volley to save one of Pouille’s match points as the key before Pouille double-faulted right at another match point. Eventually, Paire tried to bring Pouille off the balance from his serves, with an ace to secure his set point before Pouille’s backhand rush resulted in Paire taking the second set 7-6(6), bringing the match to a decider.
In honour of the little tenacious Belgian on the comeback trail playing himself into the R16 in Rotterdam, here's him battling his way through qualis in Marseille last week.
David Goffin vs. Lucas Pouille, Open 13 Marseille 2024 (R2 of qualifications)
Photo credit: Screenshot
While playing Roland-Garros, Lucas Pouille was the victim of a burglary at his home in Rennes with an estimated loot of 600,000 euros.
The return to earth was brutal for Lucas Pouille. Back at his home in Rennes after his elimination at Garros, the French tennis player found that his apartment had been visited by burglars, according to Le Journal du Dimanche. After…
Ce qu'il faut retenir du week-end de sport : le PSG champion record, la renaissance de Lucas Pouille à Roland-Garros, Primoz Roglic renverse le Giro…
See on Scoop.it - JamesO
Vous êtes passé à côté de l'actualité sportive du week-end ? C'est l'heure de votre séance de rattrapage : sélection des grands moments de l'actualité sportive que vous avez peut-être manqué le samedi 27 et le dimanche 28/05/23.
Sport : alors que Roland-Garros a débuté le dimanche 28/05/23, le Tour d'Italie a connu un final renversant, quand la Ligue 1 a vu le suspense pour le titre prendre fin.
JamesO's insight:
Via l’agence JamesO Média❗️N.D.L.R. : article de presse (temps de lecture : 4 minutes + vidéo) publié par Franceinfo (France Télévisions) le lundi 29/05/23.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) is excited to announce its 3-year collaboration with Ballman Project , the innovative NFT tennis tournament platform co-founded by tennis star Stan Wawrinka and backed by a dozen of professional players , including Grégoire Barrère and Lucas Pouille. The agreement will see the FFT collaborating with Ballman Project to bring virtual tennis to fans around the…
Mauthausen Ch F: Lucas Pouille def. Jozef Kovalik [6] 6-3, 6-3 Match Stats
📸 ATP official website
L. Pouille had a solid start to the match as he utilized his trademark drop shot to generate his break point in the middle of the first set, managing his aggression well while J. Kovalik erred most of his forehands that cost the latter some moments. As the former went tight toward the end of the match, J. Kovalik tried to break back after his backhand winner paved some ways to do so, but L. Pouille clutched it out to close the match. As a result, L. Pouille converted 4 out of his 7 break points compared to J. Kovalik's 20% break point conversion rate out of his 5 break points, 3 of which were created at the end of the second set.
In addition, L. Pouille also appeared more consistent in his service games. Even though both players only scored an ace, the Frenchman had a slight edge from his first serves with a 68% winning percentage, 7% more than J. Kovalik. On the other hand, the latter only won 47% of his second serve points despite no double faults compared to the Frenchman, who won 62% of his second serve points, implying the Slovak's second serve vulnerability.
Adding more materials to the simultaneous resurgence arc, L. Pouille won his first Challenger title since the Bordeaux Challenger 2019, securing his return to 163 in the live rankings as he argued his case for a main draw wild card in the upcoming Roland Garros/French Open. On the other hand, J. Kovalik still maintained his Top 150 position as he landed at 144 live thanks to his runner-up run. While this wrapped up this week's resurgence arc, this only completed 3 out of 5 Challenger finals for the week, 2 of which were also held simultaneously right in conclusion of the Prague 2 Challenger and this one.