Article by Maria Olteanu – Published on Thursday, 28 May 2026, 21:20 / Updated on Thursday, 28 May 2026 21:20
The young French tennis player Moise Kouame (17 years old, ranked 318th in the world) made history on Thursday at Roland Garros, after defeating the Paraguayan Adolfo Daniel Vallejo (22 years old, ranked 71st in the world) in a spectacular match in the second round, after 5 hours of play, with the score of 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8).
After the surprise of the year in tennis, eliminating world leader Jannik Sinner prematurely17-year-old Kouame also shocked the tennis world and, in front of his home crowd, secured a place in the third round.
Moise Kouame, the 318th player in the world, in the 3rd round at Roland Garros
The youngster born in 2009 won the first two sets, the Paraguayan came back, then took a 5-2 lead in the fifth set. However, buoyed by incredible support from the stands, Kouame came back into the match and then, after a crazy tie-break, secured victory and qualification to the next stage of the competition on the Parisian clay.
dKouame also made history with his triumph in a match that lasted almost five hours. Moise became the second youngest tennis player, at 17 years and 83 days, to qualify for the third round of a Grand Slam tournament.
Only Rafael Nadal was younger than him, who reached the third round at Wimbledon in 2003, at 17 years and 20 days, according to sportal.blic.rs.
Moise Kouame is also the fifth-youngest player in the Open Era to reach the third round of the men's singles draw at Roland Garros.
Kouame is now in second place and will look for a historic last-16 qualification against Chile's Alejandro Tabilo, who advanced without a fight as Valentin Vacherot withdrew due to injury.
