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By Scoop Malinowski
Corentin Moutet won his first ATP main tour match today by defeating veteran Adrian Menendez Maceiras 64 67 63 at the Quito Open.
The 18-year-old French wildcard, ranked 150 in the world, dazzled with his unique style of play which features a booming forehand, variety on the backhand, frequent serve and volleys, lethal drop shots and a capacity to unleash amazing shots at any time from anywhere. One shot in particular stood out. Moutet was forced to hit a running backhand, short angle, slice, cross court passing shot winner which somehow eluded Menendez Maceiras and landed in by just inches. It was the kind of shot you see about once or twice all year. And the elegance and aesthetics of the shot were – now don’t shoot me for saying this – but it was beyond Federeresque.
Moutet played his first ATP match as a wildcard at the Australian Open, losing to Andreas Seppi in four sets.
Moutet is a personal favorite who I featured last month at this site, not only because of his unique game but also his social media Instagram account which shows his interests in art, poetry, boxing. Two of his recent posts were simple messages: “Stay Normal” with wide open eyes emoticon and the curious quotation of “The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.”
Moutet’s win today in Quito was remarkable when you compare it to other players such as Tennys Sandgren, who had to wait five years until he finally got his first ATP main tour win last summer in Washington DC against Go Soeda.
Moutet was dominant today and served for the match in the second set at 5-4 but tightened up and ended up losing the tiebreaker in which he also lead 5-4 on his serve.
The French lefty, attired in the new Nike pink and black kit with a pink headband, smashes his Wilson after losing the second set but regained his composure to build a 3-0 lead in the third set. Again he faltered though, letting the Spanish veteran off the hook at 30-all in the 3-0 game and then was broken for 3-2. But Moutet would not be denied and won the final three games of the match with his best shotmaking of the day. Menendez Maceiras may have been the bigger, stronger, more experienced player today but Moutet has more shots and more variety in his tool bag to work with.
For sure, we will be seeing a lot more of Corentin Moutet in 2018 and beyond.
