Thanks to the lucky hand of Richard Gasquet, the men's singles draw of the Open 13 Provence 2022 was created.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev were seeded first and second in the tournament and were therefore placed on the first and last row of the draw. Gasquet's first order of business was to determine which half of the draw the third and fourth seeds, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Aslan Karatsev, would be in. Fate decided to place the Canadian in the top half, the Tsitsipas' half, and he should meet him in the semi-finals for a rematch of the 2020 final. Conversely, Russia's Karatsev finds himself in the bottom half with a potential Russian-Russian semi-final.
But before that, there will be a number of matches, especially in the first round. The first of these matches is a French tennis classic, the opposition between three-time winner and wild card for the 2022 edition Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and two-time winner and wild card Gilles Simon. This will be the 14th meeting between the two monuments of French tennis and it is Jo who leads 9-4. This will be their third meeting at the Open 13 Provence with Tsonga leading 2-0.
Another Franco-French confrontation that will be worth the diversions, Hugo Gaston and Corentin Moutet. This will be the first match between the two men on the main circuit. In 2017 they played each other in a "Future" tournament and it was Moutet who got the better of his opponent. However, it is difficult to use this match as a reference because the stakes are so different, as are the two players 5 years later.
Last year's finalist, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, will try to defend his points. He will start his campaign against a qualifier. If he reaches the quarter-finals, it will be Aslan Karatsev who will be in his path, before a possible semi-final against Andrey Rublev.
Apart from the three previous winners in the draw (Tsonga 3, Simon 2, Tsitsipas 2), there is a good chance that the 30th edition of the Open 13 Provence will crown an unseen winner.
See you on Sunday 20 February at around 5pm for the verdict.
Theoretical quarter-finals :
Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE, 1) - Alexei Popyrin (AUS, 7)
Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN, 3) - Ilya Ivashka (BLR, 5)
Gianluca Mager (ITA, 8) - Aslan Karates (RUS, 4)
Talon Griekspoor (NED, 6) - Andrey Rublev (RUS, 2)
