Alexei Popyrin taking positives from his RG second round defeat
Rising Australian star Alexei Popyrin has taken positives from his French Open second-round defeat and overall positives from his campaign at the second Grand Slam event of the season.
The 19-year-old fought hard to make the third round in his French Open debut but fell short in his attempt as fellow rising star Laslo Djere claimed a straight-set win 6-4 7-6 (4) 6-4.
No. 31 seed Djere claimed the first break of the match in the seventh game and then held on to his serve to win the opening set.
The Australian missed on a great chance to level the match at one set apiece as the Serb saved two sets points in the 12th game before he won the tie-break to take a two-set lead.
Djere then finished the job by breaking 109th-ranked Popyrin while he was serving to stay in the match in the 10th game of the third set.
"I can gain confidence from this; I played well today, even though I lost," Popyrin said post-match, per AAP and Tennis Australia.
Earlier this season, Popyrin made the Australian Open third round before being edged out by eventual semi-finalist Lucas Pouille.
"Every match I play on this (Grand Slam) level will give me more and more belief that I can play, no matter if I win or lose," Popyrin insisted.
"Obviously I'm not happy with the loss, but I'm happy with the way I played."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2QBgEWs
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