VIDEO. Tennis: an impressive Arthur Cazaux wins his first ATP 500 match in Dubai against world 26th Lorenzo Musetti

Le Montpelliérain a été solide de bout en bout face à l'Italien. AAP – LUKAS COCH

Arthur Cazaux (83rd) won his first career victory at an ATP 500 tournament in great style, eliminating the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (26th) during the first round of the Dubai tournament on Tuesday. February 27, after going through qualifying.

The first times add up for Arthur Cazaux. After his first Grand Slam victory, then his first round of 16 following at the Australian Open, and a first success at home in Montpellier at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, Cazaux has just won the first ATP 500 match of his career. 

Flawless display 👏@ArthurCazaux defeats Musetti 6-4 7-6 to set up a meeting with Rublev in R2#DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/S2Ru2A3rAI

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 27, 2024

And as in his two qualifying matches, the Montpellier player did it without losing a single set and not against anyone, the 26th in the world, the # 39;Italian Lorenzo Musetti. A 6-4, 7-6 [2] victory allowing him to offer himself a new gala match during the second round, during which he will face the world No.5, the Russian Andrey Rublev . 

Cazaux solid from start to finish

Tuesday against the Italian with a one-handed backhand, Arthur Cazaux was impressively calm, coming out of two weeks of rest to treat pain in one foot in particular. And given the footwork offered by the Héraultais and the destructive serves (8 aces and 61% of first balls), the foot seems to be doing much better.& nbsp;

Cazaux did not panic despite a first break conceded in his second service game to be down 3-1 at the start of the first set. The 83rd in the world then managed to break the break at 3-2 thanks to a great return game to equalize and then lead 4-3. Moment chosen by the Frenchman to be really solid, especially on the forehand and to win the first round 6-4. 

A well-executed tie break

The second set was tighter between the two men who had no break points to defend in seven games, even if Cazaux had to defend some hot moments at 0-30 on his serve, and ;#39;he failed to convert a break point at 3-4 to then serve for the match.

Thanks to numerous serves to the T, very often exceeding 220 km/h, the lover of La Paillade then managed to lead 6-5 to put pressure on Musetti.&nbsp ;

Cazaux even got a first match point, well saved by the Italian who then took the two men into a tie break. The decisive game started very badly for the Italian, author of his first double fault of the match, and who then did not resist the attacks of the Frenchman (4-1; 5-2; 7-2 ) which ended up winning.  

Points scored with an eye to the Olympic Games

Faced with world fifth Andrey Rublev, Cazaux will still have to erase a few mistakes here and there, particularly at the net, if he wants to annoy the Russian.

In any case, the Héraultais scores ATP points again and moves up the rankings for the Olympic Games, where he is virtually qualified at the moment, since&# 39;he has just overtaken his compatriot and friend Arthur Fils. 

As a reminder, he will have to be one of the four best French people in the world rankings, the day after the Roland-Garros final, if he wishes to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympics.