Tenth seed Marin Cilic has been knocked out of the French Open by Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti. The former US Open champion crashed out 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, to the South American underdog.
The loss is Cilic’s first exit in the opening round of the French Open since 2011. The loss is a bitter disappointment for the Croatian, who last week reached the final of the Geneva Open before losing to Stan Wawrinka.
The victory is only Trungelliti’s fourth win on the ATP Tour. The Argentine is currently at a ranking high of 166th in the world and is a regular player on the lower level Challenger Tour. The 26-year-old hasn’t won a title since a Futures tournament in Brazil back in 2014.
L’Argentin Trungelliti s’offre la tête (de série N°10) de Marin Cilic 7-6 3-6 6-4 6-2 #RG16c #RG16 https://t.co/iYsm1SlIF7
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) 23 May 2016
There was better news for Richard Gasquet, who eased his way past Thomaz Bellucci 6-1, 6-3, 6-4. The 29-year-old is playing in his 13th French Open main draw. The Frenchman produced less winners than his opponent (24-31), however, Bellucci’s costly 47 unforced errors granted Gasquet the match.
“I’m quite satisfied. I knew it was going to be a rough first round.” Gasquet said about his first round performance.
Gasquet will play American wildcard Bjorn Fratangelo in the second round. The 2011 French Open boys’ champion battled past Sam Querrey in four sets to win his first main draw match at a grand slam event.
Bjorn Fratangelo’s first Top 40 win is his first Grand Slam victory, d. Querrey in 4. Years of hard work paying off for @BjornFratangelo.
— Josh Meiseles (@jmeistennis) 23 May 2016
Another triumph for home players occurred for Gilles Simon, who defeated Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2. The win was far from straightforward for the world No.18. Simon dropped his serve five times during the first two sets of the match.
“I played my game. He started very well. I felt right away it would be tough to win the match. So I was able to increase my game level. At the beginning was not very good. I quickly had to react.” Simon said about his performance.
Kyle Edmund required almost three hours to see off Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6(4), 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-1. The win has addressed concerns about the state of the British players’ health. Last week Edmund suffered a heavy fall on his ankle during the Open de Nice.
“I don’t know how long the match was, about 2 hours 40, so 2 hours 40 of running and sliding it held up absolutely fine. Obviously great confidence that the ankle is holding up.” Edmund said about his ankle problem.
Finally, Kei Nishikori dropped his serve only once to defeat Italy’s Simone Bolelli 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 to claim his 50th grand slam win. It is the first time Nishikori has defeated the Italian in straight sets after being taken to four sets in their two previous occasions (Wimbledon 2014 and 2015). In the next round the world No.6 will play Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.
