US 20-year-old player Sebastian Korda (the son of former world number 2 and 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda) beat Andreas Seppi 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-2 in 2 hours and 24 minutes in the opening round of the French Open in Paris to win his first Grand Slam match.
Korda earned the first break of the match in the fourth game of the opening set and held his serve in the fifth game after saving two break points. Korda held on serve and sealed the first set with a break in the eighth game.
Korda was in control of the match and broke serve in the second game. Seppi fought back by winning four consecuive games to take a 4-2 lead with two consecutive breaks.
Seppi faced two break points in the second game of the third set. He saved both opportunities, but Korda converted his third break point after Seppi netted a volley. Seppi broke back in the seventh game, but dropped his serve again in the eighth game. Korda closed out the third set 6-3 on his second set point.
Seppi got a break in the fourth game of the fourth set, but Korda broke straight back in the next game. Korda broke again in the seventh game. The US player saved three break points in the next game an held his serve after eight deuces.
Korda earned two match points on Seppi’s serve and sealed the win on his second opportunity with his down the line line backhand.
“Of course, just playing against the bigger guys gave me a lot of confidence. It gave me belief that I could keep up with these guys and play with them”, said Korda.
Korda set up a second round match against John Isner, who cruised past Elliot Benchetrit 6-4 6-1 6-3 after 1 hour and 42 minutes without dropping serve.
