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France Davis Cup captain Sebastian Grosjean has advised Hugo Gaston to try to draw inspiration from former world No. 1 Rios. Gaston, who put up a great run to make the Paris Masters as a qualifier, is also a left-handed like Rios and he proved he has the game to beat good players.
En route to making the Paris quarterfinal, Gaston stunned No. 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta and Spanish wonderkid Carlos Alcaraz. Gaston competed extremely well against Daniil Medvedev but ended up suffering a defeat to the world No.
2. "In my opinion, he has a game where he could draw even more inspiration from Marcelo Rios, an intelligent player who could do all the strikes in tennis. Like him, he is left-handed, and able to take the ball early," Grosjean told L'Equipe.
Medvedev expected a tough job against Gaston
“The way Gaston plays here, I knew I had to play my best tennis,” Medvedev said on court after the match. “That’s a Davis Cup atmosphere. The first set, it’s a miracle.
That’s why we love tennis." Gaston was serving for the opener and had three consecutive set points but Medvedev saved and won 7-6 (7) 6-4. “On one of the set points, he’s serving on the line,” he said, referring to the first of his three set points.
“I think it’s an ace. I make an attempt with my hand, I touch it, it’s in, and then I win the set. That’s tennis." Gaston was enjoying a great support from the Parisian crowd throughout the whole week.
“[The atmosphere] was incredible. Honestly, I have been playing tennis for this. It was actually incredible. It was really wonderful to live this match with them. I actually won because they supported me from beginning to the end even when I had a letdown during the first or the second set, they were always cheering me. It's incredible to have such a great public," Gaston admitted after the Alcaraz win.