There is no doubt that the second day of the 30th edition of the Open 13 Provence will be marked by a match that will bring together no less than five titles on the court. Indeed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon, the two former roommates, when they were future hopes of French tennis and residents of the Roland-Garros National Training Centre, will cross swords on the centre court of the Palais des Sports in Marseille.
The Simon-Tsonga match is a classic in French tennis. The two friends have played each other 13 times and it is the three-time winner of the Open 13 Provence, Jo Tsonga, who leads 9-4. However, if you delve a little deeper into these head-to-heads, you will find that it was "Gillou" who won their last match, in Antwerp in 2019. In Marseille, the two Frenchmen faced each other on the court twice, in 2013 and 2017. Coincidentally, these were two of the three editions won by the Frenchman. Gilles Simon has also brought home trophies from Marseille, one in 2007 and the other in 2015. There will be five titles on court for this match between the two friends, who are now two "old hands" on the circuit.
After these two monuments of French tennis, it will be the turn of two other Frenchmen, younger this time, to enter the ring: Hugo Gaston and Corentin Moutet, respectively 68th and 107th in the ATP rankings. It will be a great clash of styles between Gaston and his exceptional touch on the ball and Moutet who is a fighter ready to "die" on the court.
Before these four Frenchmen, other singles counting for the first round will be played on the Centre court of the Palais des Sports. Belgian Zizou Bergs, who was drafted out of the qualifiers, will face Danish tennis hopeful Holger Rune. Last year's finalist Pierre-Hugues Herbert will face another former finalist (2019), Mikhail Kukushkin from Kazakhstan.
The full programme is available at www.open13.fr.
