French player Clara Burel won her first match at the end of the night at Roland Garros on September 29, 2020. -

Rob Prange / SIPA

The fortnight promises to be very complicated for the French at Roland Garros.

So let's not sulk our pleasure to see a Frenchy pass her first round.

Especially for his first match in the main draw of the Paris tournament.

Monday evening, or rather Tuesday morning shortly after midnight, the Breton Clara Burel won a marathon match against the solid Dutch Arantxa Rus, 67th player in the world and 1.80 m under the gauge.

The former world junior number one, currently 357th in the WTA rankings, achieved a real feat by winning in three extended sets 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

Completed after midnight, this match becomes the latest ever to be played at Roland Garros.

A record made possible by the lighting offered for the first time on twelve of the fourteen courses.

Postponed to September because of the health crisis, the Parisian tournament does not benefit from the late sunshine in June.

"I just saw that it was almost 1 a.m., I didn't realize during the match that it was so late, I thought it was 9 or 10 p.m., it was a bit of a surprise ”, smiled Burel after his match.

"I never started a match when it was already dark like that".

Emotion sequence!



After her victory at the end of the night against the Dutch Arantxa Rus, Clara Burel takes refuge in her mother's arms and even lets out a few tears!



It is on this moment of tenderness that the second day of #RolandGarros ends pic.twitter.com/jhwBGBzoUo

- France tv sport (@francetvsport) September 28, 2020

His first grand slam victory, however, took a long time to emerge.

While leading 5-2 in the first round, the one who was born in Rennes nineteen years ago finally let go in the decisive game in front of a handful of night owl spectators bundled up.

The two players exchanged breaks throughout the three sets: eighteen in total, ten in favor of Burel and eight for Rus, on court N.7 backing onto court Philippe-Chatrier, where the matches were over long ago. lurette.

"It was a lot of emotion"

After 2 h 57 of combat, the Breton was able to fall into her mother's arms for long seconds.

“At the end, when I saw my mother, I thought back to last year when I was watching Roland Garros and had just had my wrist operated, it was difficult.

When I won, I thought about it all, it was a lot of emotion, ”she said.

“I'm super tired, but obviously there is excitement after this game,” she added.

In the next round, Burel will face the Slovenian Kaja Juvan (103rd), victorious 6-3, 6-3 over the former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber.

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