23 aces and a set down: Tirante turns Paris qualifying around, 2-1 over Svajda

Twenty-three aces. That was Thiago Agustin Tirante's count against Zachary Svajda's seven in their Paris qualification opener, a gap that decided a match which started the wrong way for him. The odder figure sits underneath: Svajda won 55 points behind serve to Tirante's 50, and still finished outscored 89-71 and beaten 2-1 (3-6, 6-1, 6-4).

Set one belonged entirely to Svajda's nerve. He saved all five break points he faced, won 29 of his service points against Tirante's 13, and converted the second of his two chances — 6-3 despite eight Tirante aces, with Tirante failing on all five break points he created.

Then the serve economy flipped completely. In the second set Svajda won six service points all set; Tirante broke him twice, faced no break points, hit another eight aces and levelled at 6-1. The decider turned on one break: Tirante matched Svajda's 20 service points but took 14 return points to Svajda's three, broke once, never faced a break point and closed it 6-4.

Tirante's day was built on the first delivery. It landed 43 times out of 66, a 65% rate to Svajda's 53%, and it banked 38 first-serve points to 31. He faced two break points in three sets, saved one, and never lost another service game after that. The aces were the headline; underneath them, the return game did the quiet winning.

Saving 70% of break points sounds like a wall. Svajda stood behind it ten times; Tirante came through three of them anyway.