Tennis: Junior Wimbledon champ Mochizuki gets 1st win at Grand Slam
Mochizuki, the 2019 Wimbledon junior singles champion and first Japanese to win the title, prevailed 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6), 7-5 in a 3-hour, 14-minute marathon in the men's singles first round. The match was suspended at the end of the fourth set on Monday due to the late-night curfew.
The players held serve for a combined 11 games after the match's resumption, before 144th-ranked Mochizuki capitalized on the 351st-ranked Italian's double fault to earn two match points. He clinched the victory on the first by sending a forehand return down the line.
"I was quite fatigued after playing four sets, and the suspension (on Monday) wasn't a negative thing," Mochizuki said.
"The best thing was managing to grind out a win from a hard, difficult match, more than getting a win at a Grand Slam."
His compatriot Yoshihito Nishioka, 82nd in the world, lost 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to 21st-ranked Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
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