By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday July 19, 2024
Quentin Halys of France has been flying by the seats of his pants in Gstaad.
Case in point: the 27-year-old World No.192 hit this incredible forehand topspin drive from his backside during Friday’s 6-1, 7-5 victory over Brazil’s Gustavo Heide.
Commentator Nick Lester said it best: “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like that before.”
How on EARTH 🤯
From the floor @QuentinHalys hits one of the shots of the year…@SwissOpenGstaad #ATPGstaad pic.twitter.com/L5mSVuMFPS
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 19, 2024
Surely Halys hasn’t been able to practice that shot very often, but when he tumbled at the baseline on Friday, he knew exactly what to do. How do you get this much work on the ball without the use of your legs?
Halys has been playing great tennis of late. He reached third round at Wimbledon from qualifying, and is into his first tour-level semifinal since April of 2023 at the beautiful Swiss venue.
In other action at the Swiss Open Gstaad, fifth-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff defeated No.4 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 – the 34-year-old German will face Halys for a spot in the final on Saturday.
In the top half of the draw, Stefanos Tsitsipas faces Fabio Fognini while Matteo Berrettini and Felix Auger Aliassime will clash.
