Gilles Simon wins five set thriller in first round of the 2022 French Open

Gilles Simon (Charlie Cowins, Wikimedia Commons)

Gilles Simon announced his retirement from professional tennis at the end of 2022 on May 7. Early Wednesday morning in Paris, Simon produces flashes of magic at the 2022 French Open.

In a five-set thriller on Court Simonne-Mathieu, Simon defeated the 16th seed, Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4. The fact that Simon was able to put it together in the fifth set when the match mattered most was mighty impressive. The 158th-ranked player in the world from Nice, won a match that went three hours and 54 minutes in length.

It was a sensational start and sensational finish for Simon. He won the first two sets, and then won the last four games of the fifth set after trailing 4-2. Simon will next play American Steve Johnson in the second round. Head-to-head Simon won their only previous battle. In the quarterfinals of the 2014 Japan Open, Simon beat Johnson 7-6, 6-1.

Carreno-Busta was the second highest men’s seed to be eliminated. The highest seed was Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, the 124th seed, who was steamrolled by clay court specialist Holger Rune of Denmark, 6-3, 6-1, 7-6.

It was also memorable day for another French tennis player. Wildcard Jo-Wilfried Tsonga played the final match of his career, in a four-set loss to the number eight seed, Casper Ruud of Norway, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6. Tsonga broke Ruud late in the fourth set, but was broken right back, and then was unable to win a point in the fourth set tiebreak.

Tsonga is the last French player to reach a grand slam final. At the 2008 Australian Open, he lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 to current world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

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