Five sets and 3h54 minutes of play. Gilles Simon played Gilles Simon to dismiss Pablo Carreño Busta overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday: 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4.

At 37, the Nice extended the pleasure of at least one match against the American Steve Johnson (92nd in the world) for his last Roland-Garros.

For this, the one who is playing his final season on the circuit therefore stabbed a Spaniard, 18th at the ATP and very dangerous on ocher, in a football stadium atmosphere created by a few hundred courageous supporters who braved the cold and the night.

At the end of the suspense and the night 🙏



Gilles wins against Pablo Carreno Busta in 5 sets! #RolandGarros |

@GillesSimon84 pic.twitter.com/NQneh5uHJV

— FFT (@FFTennis) May 24, 2022


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" It's huge !

When I arrive on the pitch, I feel like I haven't won a match for three years, I play Pablo who is so strong, and finally it's going well, I feel that you are there from the start. start, my fellows who normally go to bed at 9 a.m. are there… It’s just unreal, because the victory, when I enter the field, damn it is far… “, he launched to the public of the court Simonne - Matthew.

"And then you put on a good set, you say to yourself 'it's cool, I'm playing well, I'm enjoying it, there's a crazy atmosphere, it's great'.

You fight, you do a second [set], you lead two sets to zero and you're like 'come on, it stings, I have a blister on each finger but it's okay,' ”said the former world No. 6, now 158th.

"It's so unlikely"

“Then everything becomes hard, winning a game becomes the end of the world.

At the beginning of the fifth, you have to go point by point, game by game, every time I ask, you [the public] are there.

I try to be brave, I really put everything I have left, I have a cramp with each service.

And then finally, you win, it's so unlikely…”, he continued.

Simon, three times 8th runner-up at Roland-Garros (2011, 2013, 2015) said he was inspired by his friend Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, eliminated with panache a few hours earlier by Casper Ruud.

“There is an important thing that happened today [Tuesday], my friend Jo [Tsonga] played.

He's the same, it's been three years since he won a match either.

You don't realize, but there is a little fear of ridicule that is there..."

“What I found fantastic was that we really saw Jo one last time, we saw the Jo we all loved, admired.

He was fantastic and I said to myself, regardless of the last few weeks, he was here one last time, he played a huge game, and I wanted to do the same.

That we see Gilles Simon one last time on the ground, and thanks to all of you, it was the case, ”he again launched to the fanatical public.

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