Jesper de Jong secured a spot in the second round of Roland Garros on Tuesday thanks to a fine comeback. He won in five sets against Italian Francesco Passaro: 3-6, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (1), and 6-1. Suzan Lamens was defeated in her tournament debut.
The strong-serving Passaro pushed De Jong to the limit on the clay in Paris. After the first two sets, the Dutchman battled back into the match with considerable bravado. In the decisive set, he was clearly fresher.
De Jong decided the match after 3 hours and 54 minutes with a love game. He faces a tough task in the second round. Then he meets Alexander Zverev, the number three in the world.
In contrast to De Jong, Zverev himself had a simple afternoon. The finalist from last year spared his energy and won in three sets against American Learner Tien: 6-3, 6-3, and 6-4.
De Jong debuted at Roland Garros last year and also had a difficult opponent in the second round then. Then he met Carlos Alcaraz on center court. He made the Spaniard sweat and received many compliments, but lost in four sets.
Lamens Unable to Crown Debut with Victory
Earlier in the day, in rainy Paris, the match between Lamens and American Ashlyn Krueger went back and forth from the first moment. The 25-year-old Dutchwoman was broken in her first service game, but succeeded in breaking the four-year-younger Krueger a little later.
Breaks then rained down on court 7, where single Wimbledon winner Conchita MartÃnez was one of the spectators. MartÃnez is the coach of the Russian top talent Mirra Andreeva (WTA-6), who Lamens could have met in the second round.
But it didn’t get that far for the tennis player from Berkel en Rodenrijs. From a 2-2 score in the first set, Lamens (WTA-69) barely got a look-in against Krueger, who is 34 places higher in the world ranking.
After just one hour and fifteen minutes, Krueger used her fifth match point. It ended up being 3-6 and 4-6. Thus, Lamens’ first Roland Garros appearance was over after one round.