The improvement continues for French men's tennis. If the women did not shine at Wimbledon, with the elimination of the last three representatives in the second round, the men had a brilliant first week. This Thursday, at the start of the day, Arthur Fils created the feat by taking advantage of the retirement of Hubert Hurkacz when he was only one point away from success. Gaël Monfils confirmed his victory which began on Wednesday against Stan Wawrinka.
But the good results did not stop there. Facing the No. 21 seed, the Russian Karen Khachanov, Quentin Halys pulled out all the stops to compete in the third round of Wimbledon for the second year in a row. Mentally strong, the Frenchman did not tremble even though he was down two sets to one. He finally won in five sets and 2h48 of play (4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4). The level will increase further in the next match, with Holger Rune as an opponent.
Lucas Pouille will also compete in the third round. The Northerner, only 212th in the world after numerous physical problems, took advantage of the abandonment of Thanasi Kokkinakis, who slipped and injured his knee during the third set (2-6, 7-5, 5-2 ab.). The Frenchman nevertheless returned to the game, with a superb second set and a break achieved in the third. He will face 9th seed Alex De Minaur in the third round.
Only one Frenchman lost this Thursday. This is Arthur Rinderknech, who fought for a long time before giving in against the American Taylor Fritz (6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4). Taking advantage of his powerful serve, the Varois delivered a solid performance, and will undoubtedly have no regrets at the end of this match. This will not be the case for Caroline Garcia, 24th in the world, who suffered a new snub against Bernarda Pera (3-6, 6-3, 6-4).
