When Andrei Rublev got beaten in the first round of this year’s Championship, it left the door open for less well-known players to make his mark and the two players who have made the most of the opportunity were Lorenzo Musetti and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
I’ve been dreaming about this moment Lorenzo Musetti
Mpetshi Perricard, known as ‘Gio’, a 6’8” Frenchman celebrating his 21st birthday, certainly grasped the opportunity having just failed to qualify for the main draw, but granted a reprieve when called up as a Lucky Loser to replace the injured Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovic Fokina.
He required five sets to beat Sebastian Korda in the first round which he followed up with a more comfortable win over Yoshihito Nishioka and, to reach the last 16, a four setter against Emil Ruusuvuori. In those three matches he hit 105 aces, made 158 service winners and won 62 of his 63 service games.
No doubt he was confident as he arrived on Court No.2 as only the fifth Lucky Loser to reach that stage in the Open Era, but unfortunately for him, he was unable to set a new record to become the first to reach the quarter-finals.
His Italian opponent, seeded 25, used his greater experience on grass – he was a finalist at Queen’s and had reached the semi-finals at Stuttgart the week before – but had to recover from a set down to achieve his dream of reaching a Grand Slam quarter-final.
Musetti, 22, is an underrated player, a tricky one and certainly took control quicker around the court than his more inexperienced opponent and once he had worked out a strategy to deal with Mpteshi Perricard’s power, he controlled the game to run out a 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-2 winner after two hours and 3-minutes, capturing the big serve five times from the 15 opportunities he raised. In contrast, the Frenchman only managed one break from one chance and the 8 double faults he served did not help his case.
The victory proved very emotional for Musetti who could barely hold back the tears. Despite several pauses he managed to tell the audience in his post-match on-court interview that it was “a phenomenal day for me.”
He said: “I’ve been dreaming about this moment. Since I was a kid, I always had a really beautiful family that supported me in chasing my dream.”
He thanked his coach Simone Tartarini and his girlfriend Veronica who was supporting him from the players’ box.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard returns a backhand
(Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
