French teenager Fils stuns veteran Gasquet in Montpellier for first win on ATP Tour
The 18-year-old produced a huge shock as he took out one of France’s biggest names
Arthur Fils, Montpellier 2023 | © AI / Reuters / Panoramic
Remember the name: Arthur Fils.
The teenage French wildcard Arthur Fils upset veteran Richard Gasquet 7-5, 7-5 at the Montpellier Open on Monday to earn his first win on the ATP Tour.
The 18-year-old, ranked No 163 and the runner-up in the juniors at Roland-Garros last year, came from 4-2 down in the first set and broke in the 12th game of each set to clinch a famous victory over one of France’s most famous tennis names. He will play No 4 seed Roberto Bautista Agut next.
“Really happy, it was a tough match for me,” Fils said. “He was playing good, I was playing good too, but I played really good in the end of the first set and then I was a little bit more relaxed on the court. I’m happy about this win.”
Gasquet impressed by Fils’ level
Gasquet, who won his 16th title in Auckland at the start of the year, was also impressed.
“He plays well, nothing to say,” the 36-year-old world No 45 said, quoted by L’Equipe. “He hits hard. He is fast. He has a very good future. How far he’ll go I can’t say. But he will go high.”
Montpellier ATP250, other first-round results (Sud de France Arena, hard, EUR 562.815, most recent results first):
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Ugo Humbert
- Mikael Ymer vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
- Gregoire Barrere vs. Alexander Bublik
- Luca Nardi vs. Arthur Rinderknech
- Benjamin Bonzi vs. Lorenzo Sonego
- Marc-Andrea Huesler vs. Luca Van Assche
- Marton Fucsovics vs. Geoffrey Blancaneaux
- Clement Chidekh vs. Quentin Halys
- Maxime Cressy vs. Antoine Bellier
- Filip Krajinovic vs. Aslan Karatsev
- Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. Constant Lestienne
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