sports
17-Year-Old French Player Wins First Grand Slam Match at French Open
Moise Kouame defeated Marin Cilic in straight sets to become the youngest man to win a Grand Slam main-draw match in 17 years. The 17-year-old from Sarcelles is scheduled to face Adolfo Daniel Vallejo in the second round.
May 27, 9:29 AM·1m read1 source
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The victory made Kouame the youngest male player to win a Grand Slam singles match since Bernard Tomic in 2009 and the youngest first-round winner at Roland Garros since 1991. Kouame is the first teenager to beat a major champion in his debut Grand Slam main-draw match since Marat Safin defeated Andre Agassi at the same tournament in 1998.
The match took place on Court Simonne-Mathieu before a home crowd.
Born in 2009 in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, Kouame is of Ivorian-Cameroonian descent. His mother, his first coach, now manages his career. He began playing tennis at age six, trained at the National Tennis Centre in Poitiers, and is coached by former world No.
7 Richard Gasquet. He said the experience from those tournaments helped him stay calm during Tuesday's match. "It’s a lot of emotion, it’s exceptional," Kouame said after the win. "Coming into this tournament, I didn’t really know what to expect. " Kouame is scheduled to play Paraguay's Adolfo Daniel Vallejo in the second round on Thursday.
He also competed in men's doubles with Giovanni Mpetshi Perrica and will play mixed doubles with Elsa Jacquemot.
