Moïse Kouamé, the 17-year-old French wild card ranked No. 318 in the world, came from two points away from defeat to beat Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6(8) on Thursday – five hours of tennis that carried him into the third round of Roland-Garros and made him the youngest man to reach the last 32 of a Grand Slam since Rafael Nadal at 2003 Wimbledon.
The teenager had looked, for two sets, like a player about to stroll into the second week. He took the first 6-3 and the second 7-5, controlling the rallies against an opponent six years his senior. Then the match turned. Vallejo, the 21-year-old Paraguayan ranked No. 71 who had reached the second round when Cameron Norrie retired in the first, took the third 6-3 and the fourth 6-2, and Kouamé – playing his second five-set match in a tournament that was only his first Grand Slam main draw – was suddenly the one hanging on.
Tabilo next
The fifth set brought him to the brink. Vallejo led 5-4 and stood two points from the match. Kouamé saved himself, held, broke back, and dragged the set to a tie-break. The breaker ran to 10-8. On a Court that had spent five hours willing him through, the 17-year-old took it, sank to the clay, and reached a third round that the record books had not seen a player his age contest in more than two decades.
It was Kouamé’s second-set epic in four days, and his second piece of history in a week. On Tuesday he had beaten former US Open champion Marin Cilic on his Grand Slam debut, becoming the first man born in 2008 or later to win a main-draw match at this level and the youngest man to win at Roland-Garros since Dinu Pescariu in 1991.
The third round brings another step up: he will face Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, who reached the last 32 without hitting a ball when Valentin Vacherot withdrew with a foot injury — a rested opponent against a teenager who has now spent more than eight hours on court in his first week of Grand Slam tennis.