Marco Trungelliti of Argentina plays a forehand during the mens singles first round match against Bernard Tomic of Australia during day two of the 2018 French Open at Roland Garros on May 28, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Argentinian Marco Trungelliti embarked on a road trip from Barcelona to Paris and was rewarded with a lucky loser spot to play Bernard Tomic at Roland Garros on Monday.
The world number 190 had already returned to his base in Barcelona after losing in qualifying last week, but a spate of withdrawals saw a possible place in the main draw open up.
Nick Kyrgios, who was due to play fellow Australian Tomic on Monday, became the eighth player to pull out of the draw on Sunday with an elbow injury.
Egyptian Mohamed Safwat was the seventh lucky loser before going down in straight sets to Grigor Dimitrov, while next-in-line Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India was already in Italy for a Challenger Tour event.
With no qualifying losers still in Paris, Trungelliti took his chance and drove back to the French capital along with his brother, mother and grandmother.
He arrived in Paris at 2350 local time on Sunday, and organisers confirmed on Monday morning that he had done enough to secure the clash with Tomic.
After a drive of over 1,000 kilometres, Trungelliti now faces a tough task against former world number 17 Tomic to make the second round for the third year in succession.
A rule change this year has helped the cause of defeated qualifiers at Grand Slam tournaments.
If a player withdraws injured before their scheduled first-round match, they still receive half the prize money while the lucky loser takes the other half.
It is the first time there have been eight lucky losers in the men’s singles of a Grand Slam in the Open era.
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