His victim of the day, the Russian Roman Safiullin, does not quite have the same pedigree as Richard Gasquet or Roberto Bautista, whom Fils had dominated in Montpellier.

But he had reached the semi-finals last year in Marseille and on Wednesday he was swept away 6-4, 6-3 by the young Francilien.

"It's a normal level. It's the level at which I want to evolve, I would even like to be a little higher", explained Fils on Wednesday, when he was asked at a press conference if he had the feeling of playing particularly well, buoyed by the confidence born of his recent results.

"Without having a big head, it's not incredible to have beaten him. I have to continue like this, it's positive, but I must not stop there," he added.

After his semi-final in Montpellier, and while French tennis, at the bottom of the wave, is looking for new faces, Fils knew he was still eagerly awaited at the Open13.

"Important Victory"

Against Safiullin, he easily lived up to expectations, hitting very hard on both sides, aggressive and full of confidence, for a really solid game apart from a handful of unforced errors late in the second set.

Never in danger on his serve, he only had one break point to face, at 4-3 in the second set, saved from an ace and very quickly forgotten.

"It's an important victory. I'm going after Montpellier and it was a bit of a challenge with my coach and my team. I took it up in good conditions by controlling the match from A to Z", judged the solid right-hander of 1.85m.

Winner of the Orange Bowl, the famous junior tournament, in December 2020, finalist of Roland-Garros juniors in 2021 and world No.3 among young people the same year, Fils has in any case succeeded in his debut on the big circuit after his to be focused on the Challengers last season.

After Montpellier, his staff had also preferred not to play him at the Cherbourg Challenger last week. "It was not to decompress, but it was complicated to follow up," he explained on Wednesday.

And the program for the week was simple: "I trained, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday..."

Rod Laver Arena and Musketeers

No break, therefore, but a desire for revenge at the time of meeting Thursday in Marseille the Italian Jannik Sinner, 12th in the world and not much older than him (21 years old), who had interrupted his superb career in Montpellier (7 -5, 6-2).

"We're going to see that with my coach, but there are bound to be lessons to be learned. It didn't come to anything in the first set, I had set points. We mustn't miss the opportunities and if it's is the case, I can largely come out a winner”, he assured.

It will then be time to see further and higher, towards the very lofty objectives that he did not hide on Wednesday in an interview with La Provence: to become world N.1 and win Grand Slam tournaments, preferably Roland -Garros, of course, but also the Australian Open.

"When I was little, I woke up and there were the night sessions of the Australian Open on TV. I thought the Rod Laver Arena was incredible," he said.

He also saw the exploits of the "Four Musketeers", who are missing or will be missing in French tennis.

"From Gaël (Monfils), I would take the showman side, from Jo (Tsonga) the service, from Richard (Gasquet) the backhand and from Gilles (Simon) the movement. With that, you win at least a Grand Slam", a he said smiling.

© 2023 AFP