Jannik Sinner did things a little—or a lot—better than Andrey Rublev | Roland Garros Wrap, Day 9

Stream every match from Roland Garros on the Tennis Channel app, each day after 11 p.m. ET. 3 to Stream, our daily wrap of the action in Paris, highlights you three matches you'll want to read about—and then replay.

Boisson gave France a Cinderella, and tennis fans a new talent

Lois Boisson d. Jessica Pegula 3-6 6-4, 6-4

👉 Stream the full match replay HERE

As Pegula and Boisson walked into Court Philippe Chatrier, the tennis TV pundits in the States were in accord: Boisson…wasn’t going to win.

“Jess doesn’t lose matches like this,” one said of Pegula.

“This isn’t her favorite surface, but this should be routine,” another chimed in.

To be fair, any other opinion at that moment would have sounded preposterous. Pegula is ranked No. 3; Boisson is No. 361, and playing her first major main draw, as a wild card, at the relatively advanced tennis age of 22. Her win in the round before, 7-5 in the third over her 138th-ranked countrywoman Elsa Jacquemot, hardly seemed like reason for worry.

As they say, that’s why they play the game. From the first point, Boisson looked like much more of a threat than she seemed to on paper. She came out looking to run around and hit her heavy-topspin forehand, and finished the first rally by whipping one into the crosscourt corner for a winner.

After that opening salvo, reality settled back in, and Pegula won the first set. But Boisson’s shot-making potential became more obvious after she settled down in the second. She pushed Pegula back with her bolo-punch forehand, brought her forward with drop shots, and left her looking helplessly skyward with backhand topspin lobs. With each winning shot, the French crowd believed a little more, and roared a little louder.

What Boisson did best, perhaps by accident, was use that atmosphere to her advantage. With a mix of high-bouncing topspin and short drops, she draw Pegula into long, scrambling, increasingly tense rallies. Pegula is the harder, flatter hitter, and on occasion she threatened to blow the match open with her superior pace. But Boisson always managed to bog her back down, and keep her tight, with varying speeds and spins and heights.

Pegula was impressed.

“All she wants to do is hit forehands,” she said. “She’s really fast, so she’s really good at running around to get her forehand and also covering the forehand side.”

“She hits it pretty heavy. I mean, super high and heavy when she wants to, when she needs to get back in the point, and then she’s able to use her drop shot and slice.”

In the end, Boisson also had fortune on her side. Serving for the match at 5-4, she looked tight and went down break point. Pegula seemed to have next rally won, until Boisson stuck her racquet out and blocked the ball just over the net, where it died for a winner.

Boisson raised her hands in apology. Then, a few minutes later at match point, she ripped another winning forehand. Cinderella had arrived.

In photos: Lois Boisson brings French crowd to its feet in dramatic Jessica Pegula stunner

Bublik had “100% one of the best days of my life”

Alexander Bublik d. Jack Draper 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4

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Just when Draper’s star seemed to be permanently ascending, Bublik, like a giant meteor, streaked across Lenglen on Monday to wipe it out.

The Russian is famously, shall we say, insouciant about his career and his results. As he puts it, “I prioritize tennis and life in equal ways.” As an example, during one of his matches last week, he realized he was playing early enough in the day that, if he lost, he could be back home in Monte Carlo by evening. That didn’t sound too bad, so he relaxed and swung out, thinking that win or lose, he’d be happy. In this case, he happened to win.

On Monday against Draper, Bublik swung even bigger and played even better. In fact, he played some of the most blistering tennis of the fortnight so far.

“100% one of the best days of my life and one of the best matches I have ever played in my life,” he said. “That was as simple as that.”

Bublik won 83% of first-serve points, hit 68 winners against 39 errors, was five of six on break points, and 33 of 40 at the net. He took a Top 10 opponent who has been improving monthly, and didn’t allow him to do anything.

100% one of the best days of my life and one of the best matches I have ever played in my life. Alexander Bublik

What explained Bublik’s sudden burst of will power? He credited his “one chance” philosophy. The only way to beat Draper, in his mind, was to go big—to move fast and break things.

“Sometimes I have a feeling like there’s only one chance,” Bublik said. “So I told myself, you have this chance, you do your best. If it doesn't work, I’m out. In certain moments I do believe there’s only one chance.

“So I did my best and it worked well…So that’s how I approach it, and that’s why I played full and I played high risk, because that was the only chance.”

Read more: Alexander Bublik won’t change ‘his path’ after biggest win of career at Roland Garros

For a guy like Bublik, who clearly doesn’t enjoy pressure, the problem with going for broke and building a lead is that you start hoping you can win, and that makes you nervous. You could see it happen to him when he served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth. He rushed, he double faulted, he nearly threw it all away—if he had lost that game, he might have lost the match. But as he said, this was his day, and in the end, everything worked.

Sinner did everything a little—and sometimes a lot—better than Rublev

Jannik Sinner d. Andrey Rublev 6-1, 6-3, 6-4

👉 Stream the full match replay HERE

The Italian and the Russian played 157 points on Monday. If you happened to miss the first 155, the next one, which brought Sinner to match point, told you all you needed to know about this contest.

Rublev served at 4-5, deuce; he was down, but not quite out. Two winning points and he would have leveled at 5-5 and possibly forced a tiebreaker. He had beaten Sinner as recently as last summer, so there was no reason to give up hope yet.

With that in mind, Rublev served and attacked. He took his forehand early and pounded it crosscourt, and then did it two more times. He had Sinner well behind the baseline, just trying to stay alive in the rally. The problem was, he couldn’t kill him off. Sinner gradually worked his way forward, and got a look at an offensive forehand of his own. When he clocked it, Rublev didn’t stand a chance. The point was over; a minute later the match was, too.

All of which is to say that Sinner and Rublev play similar games, but Sinner does everything a little—and these days, a lot—better. He stands farther in, takes the ball earlier, hits it with more pace, uses the drop more often, and places his shots more more accurately. That last element—accuracy—may have been the most important on Monday. The two hit almost the same number of winners, but Rublev more than doubled Sinner’s errors, 39 to 19.

On the serve, Rublev hits a harder average first ball, but Sinner’s second serve comes in with more pace and depth, and it shows. There was a staggering difference between the two on second-serve points: Sinner won 77% of his, Rublev just 29%.

A year ago, Sinner and Rublev split two three-matches on hard courts. Clay has traditionally been a better surface for Rublev than it has for Sinner. But none of that appears to matter anymore. Sinner is the best, and we’ve only had a glimpse so far of how good he’s going to be.