The capital is his garden: not a peaceful haven but an overheated greenhouse that he feeds with drop shots (29), lobs (14) and even a spoon serve to save a break point at 6-5 in the fifth set.
To the sparkling game he showed in 2020 in the round of 16 against Dominic Thiem, pushed to the fifth set, he added a high-tension scenario on Tuesday.
Swept 6-0 in the fourth set then led 3-0 in the next, Gaston at just 21 years old "dipped deep into (him)self" to overthrow the Australian.
The Toulousain tasted full Suzanne-Lenglen for the first time after two Covid editions and the atmosphere was "on a par with Bercy" when he drove rising star Carlos Alcaraz crazy in two sets.
"It's largely thanks to the public that I was able to make a match like this," he explained modestly.
It is undoubtedly also largely thanks to all his panoply on the court that the public has set the mood like that: his name chanted on all the tunes resounding in the football stadiums.
The small left-hander (1.73 meters), less powerful than the big guys on the circuit, compensates for his deficit with a lot of fantasy.
"De Minaur a very good player (20th in the world, editor's note), who moves very quickly but I knew that I could annoy him with my variation, he delivered. I can only thank you (the public), we did it together."
The super tie break, the second in Roland-Garros history, also saved Gaston, who lost his service games after each of his two breaks in the last set.
"It helped me, to be honest, but if it had been necessary to continue playing, I would have continued, I would have given everything, I would have left the body on the ground, launches the Frenchman. But there is rules that are quite recent. It helped me a lot, I used it."
In the next round, he will face the Argentinian Pedro Cachin (153rd).
© 2022 AFP