Tennys Sandgren looked as finished as any player ever did this afternoon in Paris. Ranked 186 in the world, loser of six straight matches, down 63 51 and match point to Thiago Monteiro in the first round of Roland Garros qualies, you would think Sandgren would have packed it in and flew back home to Tennessee with another defeat for his soul and psyche to ponder.
So what does he do? Sandgren won the match 36, 76, (7-5), 76 (10-8).
Sandgren saved three match points in the third set tiebreaker at 3-6 down. The third set was played out, it was not a super tiebreaker.
The win could not be more welcome for Sandgren who has lost his first matches at his last five tournaments – Miami qualies, Sarasota, Tallahassee, Savannah and Kazakstan. The 30 year old former AO quarterfinalist is 0-3 on the ATP World Tour this year.
Sandgren defeated Monteiro 64 63 last year on the hard courts of Indian Wells but lost to the Brazilian lefty in 2015 in the first round of qualies at Sarasota Open 61 26 46.
Now it remains to be seen if this kind of miraculous victory saved from the jaws of defeat can rejuvenate and spark the inner Viking of Sandgren, who defeated ATP no. 5 Dominic Thiem at 2018 AO 4R and had seven match points in the QF of 2020 AO vs Roger Federer.
ATP · Dunlop · Roland Garros · Tennys Sandgren · USA
5 comments
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Scoop Malinowski · May 17, 2022 at 9:52 pm
Some interesting results at RG qualies. Sock falls 76 64 to 27 year old German journeyman Daniel Masur. Bradley Klahn and Dudi Sela resurface after being missing for a good while but both lose. Kozlov loses to a Serbian 75 60, confidence tank seems empty again. 17 yr old French kid Arthur Fils WC lost to another French WC. Querrey loses 62 62 to a guy I forget his name, Querrey likely finished.
Cory · May 17, 2022 at 11:39 pm
You think Querrey is done as in retiring? Surely he can resurface in the top 100, if not top 50. He’s too good to not, and too young. That said, he just can’t win a match right now.
I had a feeling Masur (who is good on clay) would knock out Sock (so unreliable and IMO not great on clay)… Masur is always way better than his ranking talent-wise, but just always hurt.
Bill McGill · May 18, 2022 at 6:11 am
Loved the Sandgren result. It was great to see him fight like that. Maybe most interesting qualie result is the end of the Feli Lopez iron man streak. With his loss to Moroni, Lopez will not appear in the main draw of a grand slam for the first time since Roland Garros 2002. He appeared in 79 consecutive Grand Slam singles draws. Staying healthy enough to play in that many consecutive slams is a remarkable achievement in any era of tennis, but even more so in this particular era.
Scoop Malinowski · May 18, 2022 at 8:04 am
Cory, the fact Querrey is still trying by showing up at RG qualies means he doesn’t want to quit just yet. I think he will be ranked high enough to play Wimbledon qualies and his career may be on the line there. He has to make a run at Wimbledon. Because if he can’t, how else can he rebuild his ranking? He won’t get any wildcards for American hard court season. He will have to go back to Challengers and that’s no guarantee he can win there either. Will be interesting because as you say, Querrey is still fairly young at 34 and should have a few good years left. Sock is playing well every time I see him so not sure what the issue is why he can’t win anymore. Maybe it’s the distraction of always having his wife around, and going around to all the tournaments half as a player and half as a husband on vacation with his wife. Mats Wilander once said when tennis is no longer life and death for a player, their ranking will go down. It’s hard to treat tennis with the focus and all energies of being life and death with having his wife around all the time. That dynamic is just not working out for Sock unfortunately.
Scoop Malinowski · May 18, 2022 at 8:06 am
Bill, that Iron Man Lopez streak of 20 years in Grand Slam main draws will never be broken, equalled or even threatened. Incredible by Lopez and IMO it should qualify him for Newport Hall of Fame. Just an astounding miraculous record that he never got hurt enough to miss one single Grand Slam. He’s an iron man.