Mpetshi Perricard puts his colossal serve on display in Chengdu | ATP Tour

Chengdu

Mpetshi Perricard shows off his colossal serve in Chengdu

Federico Agustín Gómez passed the qualifying phase

September 18, 2024

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard is one of the great young stars of the locker room and the Asian tour seems like the perfect stage to confirm it. The Frenchman made his debut this Wednesday at the Chengdu Open, where he hopes to win his second ATP Tour title of the season, driven by total enthusiasm. At 21 years old and with an imposing 2.03m height, the Frenchman wants to round off a year of breaking into the elite of professional tennis.

The No. 55 in the PIF ATP Rankings had the biggest battle of the day, coming back from behind to beat local wild card Faijing Sun 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4 after two hours and 30 minutes of effort. The Frenchman completed a power exercise, hitting 34 aces to turn around a tremendous match in China. The violence of his first hit, reaching double figures of direct serves in each set, is an argument that is gaining more and more respect in the locker room.

Giovanni’s service, which averages more than 19 aces per match in the 2024 season, promises to be one of the iconic shots of the ATP Tour in the coming decade.

The Frenchman is looking to continue a season full of steps forward. In 2024, Mpetshi Perricard has won three ATP Challenger Tour titles (Nottingham, Morelos, Acapulco), his first ATP Tour crown (Lyon) and made his debut in the second week of a Grand Slam, making his way from qualifying to the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Merits that have allowed him to go from being outside the Top 200 to touching a career-best position of World No. 44 in a handful of months.

In a day that served to kick off the main draw, Slovakian Lukas Klein also advanced to the second round of the Chengdu Open, winning 7-6(3), 6-4 against Adam Walton, and Japanese Taro Daniel, who defeated sixth seed Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 7-5.

Federico Gómez overcame the preliminary round
At the start of the day, Federico Agustín Gómez earned a ticket to the main draw of the Chengdu Open, after defeating Kazakhstan’s Beibit Zhukayev in the second round of the qualifying phase by 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 29 minutes.

The Argentine will play in the main draw of an ATP Tour tournament for the second time in his career. This season he already had the opportunity to advance through the qualification at the Córdoba Open, although he lost his first ATP Tour match against Facundo Díaz Acosta.

On the Chinese hard court, he will try to open his winning record at this level against No. 70 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Frenchman Alexander Muller. The winner of this match will be the second-round opponent of No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik.

The ATP 250 in Chengdu, which takes place from 18 to 24 September, features among its top seeds in this edition the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the Kazakh Bublik and the Chilean Nicolás Jarry.

The Chengdu Open is one of four ATP Tour tournaments taking place in China in the 2024 season. Along with Hangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, it forms the competition route in the Asian giant on this year’s calendar. The event is now in its sixth edition and has champions such as Karen Khachanov, Pablo Carreño and Alexander Zverev on its strong list of honour.

Did you know…?
Mpetshi Perricard is currently the No. 5 in French tennis. At 21, he follows in the footsteps of his compatriots Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils, Gael Monfils and Adrian Mannarino.