Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard exits Winston-Salem early

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s final tournament before the US Open ended at the opening hurdle, extending a difficult run into the hard-court major. The Frenchman has now lost in the first round at three consecutive events, following early exits at Wimbledon and the Masters 1000 in Montreal. His latest defeat came against American Jenson Brooksby in Winston-Salem.

Brooksby, ranked 74th in the world against Mpetshi Perricard’s 92nd place, established control immediately by breaking in the opening game after the Frenchman won only one point. He protected that advantage throughout the first set and broke again when Mpetshi Perricard served at 5-3, taking the opener after 28 minutes. The American then saved a break point early in the second set before moving ahead once more on the Frenchman’s serve.

Mpetshi Perricard could not recover from falling 4-1 behind. Brooksby maintained his effectiveness on serve, applied pressure again late in the set and converted his first match point to complete a 6-3, 6-2 victory in one hour. The result gives Brooksby a second-round meeting with seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Mpetshi Perricard heads to the US Open after three successive defeats at the first hurdle.