In the duel between the 2019 and 2021 Provence Open 13 finalists, France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert advanced to the second round by defeating Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin 7/6(5), 7/5. On a campaign to defend the points from last year's lost final, Pierre-Hugues arrived on court with the game face on. That didn't stop his opponent from breaking early in the match. The Frenchman found the opening to break when he was 2-4 down. From then on, the servers took over until the tie-break. At 5-all in the tie-break, Pierre-Hugues accelerated again and managed to win the mini-break. He followed up with a service winner to take the set.
With the advantage of the first set, the Frenchman slackened a little and conceded the break right away. He reacted quickly and broke back to level the match at 3-3. With his back to the wall at 6-5, Kukushkin cracked under the pressure of the Masters' doubles winner alongside Nicolas Mahut, giving up on the third match point with a final forehand error.
In the next round, P2H will face the winner of the match between Benjamin Bonzi and Kamil Majchrzak for a place in the quarterfinals.
