By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday October 2, 2020
Sebastian Korda and Hugo Gaston shook up the men's draw with massive upsets on Friday at Roland Garros.
Photo Soruce: AP
A pair of 20-year-olds have sent shockwaves reverberating through the men’s singles draw at Roland Garros.
Not since 2002 had a player ranked outside of the Top 200 reached the round of 16, but that changed on Friday in Paris—not once but twice!
American Sebastian Korda, a qualifier ranked 213, and Frenchman Hugo Gaston, a wild card ranked 239, each passed through to the round of 16, to book dates with two of the tournament’s most feared players.
Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open champion and 1992 Roland Garros finalist Petr Korda, defeated Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez, 6-4 6-3 6-1 to set up a round of 16 encounter with the King of Clay Rafael Nadal. It may sound like a tough assignment, but Korda, who grew up idolizing the Spaniard, wouldn’t have it any other way.
He even named his cat after the 12-time Roland Garros champion.
“He's my biggest idol,” Korda told reporters. “He's one of the reasons I play tennis. Just watching him play, unbelievable competitor. Just from him I have the never-give-up mentality. Whenever I'm on court, I try to be like him.
“Growing up, I named my cat Rafa after him. That says a lot about how much I love the guy.”
Korda played his first Grand Slam main draw match at the US Open, losing to Denis Shapovalov in four sets.
He’ll be joined by an even more unlikely story in French wild card Hugo Gaston in the round of 16. The 20-year-old from Toulouse entered the draw with an 0-2 record at the ATP level and with one Grand Slam appearance to his name (a first-round loss at this year’s Australian Open).
On Sunday Gaston stunned 2015 Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, to set up a fourth-round encounter with Dominic Thiem.
Gaston was serenaded by appreciative French fans on Court Suzanne-Lenglen as he sat in his chair after the match, fighting back tears.
“It's crazy what's going on,” he told the crowd in French. “I tried to play my game. I didn't necessarily think I would win, but thanks to you I did. Thiem? It's going to be a crazy experience.”