Open Sud de France: Lucas Pouille beaten by Harold Mayot in the first round in Montpellier and joins Benoît Paire in the eighth

Lucas Pouille n'ira pas plus loin dans cet Open Sud de France. Alexandre Dimou – Midi Libre

Invité par le tournoi pour disputer le tableau final de l'Open Sud de France, Lucas Pouille a été battu par son compatriote Harold Mayot (6-4, 7-5), lui aussi invité, lors du premier tour, mardi 30 janvier.

The stat will be difficult to swallow for the veteran of the circuit. Despite 17 break points obtained in this match, Lucas Pouille (315th in the world) only managed to convert three during the entire match. 

On the other side of the net, the number means something completely different for Harold Mayot (144th), he who managed to pull away in this match for the # 39;take away. He will face Benoît Paire in the next round for a place in the quarter-finals. 

Victim of repeated injuries for several months, the Northerner has already said goodbye to his goal of qualifying for the next Olympic Games in Paris. < /p>

Services lost at the worst time

Tuesday against his compatriot, the 29-year-old Northerner got off to a bad start by conceding his serve from the outset to chase the score throughout the first round. And despite having managed to break to equalize at 4-4, Pouille lost his serve again at 5-4 to see Mayot take the first set.

After a few break exchanges in the second set, he nevertheless managed to get three break points in the game at 4-4, which could have allowed him to serve to equalize one sleeve everywhere. But as in the first set, Pouille lost his serve at the end of the set to lose 6-4, 7-5. 

For his part, Mayot is riding on his good momentum from the start of the year after his semi-final at the Quimper Challenger, the one lost at the Nouméa Challenger against Arthur Cazaux or his quarter-final final in Metz after going through the qualifications.

It passes for Barrère and Muller

In the other matches of the day, Grégoire Barrère (104th in the world) and Alexandre Muller (71st and seeded N.7) both won their tickets for the rest of the tournament. All at the expense of two rookies who had never played a single match on the main circuit, respectively Ugo Blanchet (214th) and Antoine Escoffier (172nd).

In the second round, Muller will face Benjamin Bonzi's tormentor, the American Michael Mmoh, while Barrère will face the winner of the match between the Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko and the Czech qualifier Dalibor Svrcina.