Lucas Pouille qualifies for the knockout stages after being very scared

Lucas Pouille qualified for the knockout stages of the Australian Open on 19 January 2019. - Kin Cheung / AP / SIPA

He waited for a year and a half. Lucas Pouille qualified on Saturday for the knockout stages
At the Australian Open, he meets for the first time in the second week of a Grand Slam tournament since the US Open 2017. But that was the fear of the unknown Alexei Popyrin, the 149th world and was invited to the tournament ...

The Frenchman led quietly two sets to zero and 4-0 in a draw of the third innings, when everything went wrong. The Northerners lost a match point in the tie-break, lost it and then lost the fourth set. He glued again before releasing his service and finding himself in a fifth round, pushing an opponent out of a hot audience like embers.

Puglia, however, recovered well and eventually won in 3:43 (7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 4-6, 6-3). Those who have never played in the Australian Grand Slam will fight for a place in the quarter-finals with Borna Coric.

He will be the only Frenchman trying his luck. In Melbourne, Pierre-Hugues Herbert had previously not been able to play against Milos Raonic (6: 6, 6: 4, 7: 6).