Jesper de Jong has qualified for the second round of Roland Garros. The Dutch tennis player defeated veteran Stan Wawrinka (41 years old) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

For Botic van de Zandschulp, the tournament ended later in the evening in the opening round. The number 55 in the world lost to the Argentinian Francisco Cerúndolo: 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 4-6.

De Jong failed in Paris in the third qualifying round, but was still admitted as a ‘lucky loser’ after Frenchman Arthur Fils withdrew.

Wawrinka is in his last professional year and won Roland Garros in 2015. He received a wild card for this edition. After his elimination, highlights of his previous performances were shown on the big screens in the stadium, including the 2015 final win against Novak Djokovic. Several former top players said nice words for the veteran.

An emotional Wawrinka congratulated De Jong and thanked the fans. “There is no tournament like Roland Garros. This is what you do it all for, to feel such emotions. I have had the opportunity to do this for a long time. It was a dream to be a professional tennis player and to play here again.”

De Jong started energetically in a very hot Paris (33 degrees), where the public was very supportive of the 41-year-old Wawrinka.

After two double faults, De Jong let Wawrinka (ATP-113) come back in the second set. The Swiss reached 3-5 and leveled the score.

In the third set, Wawrinka simply made too many mistakes and De Jong was able to win the set with a hard serve.

The heat was visibly too much for the three-time Grand Slam winner in the fourth and final set. It went smoothly, but Wawrinka sometimes lost points to save energy. At 4-4, De Jong broke the veteran with an aggressive forehand, after which he served for the win.

Although it didn’t seem to end there when Wawrinka was able to force a break with a hard backhand. But De Jong fought back with an attack at the net and a beautiful lob.

Afterwards, De Jong spoke highly of Wawrinka: “Stan was already here playing against my coach (Thiemo de Bakker, ed.) and I was still a ball boy. This day was all about Stan.”

Van de Zandschulp will look back with little pleasure on his lost duel with Cerúndolo on the intimate court 4 of the tennis park near the Bois de Boulogne.

The Dutchman had never won a set against the 25th-seeded Argentinian in the three previous mutual matches and things also seemed to be going that way in their fourth meeting.

Van de Zandschulp simply lacked the confidence to really make things difficult for Cerúndolo and grumbled about his own level during the match, which was not of high quality from either player.

Cerúndolo failed to use a match point in the tiebreak of the third set, after which Van de Zandschulp suddenly gave a sign of life.

Despite the set win, Van de Zandschulp continued to play stiffly. Cerúndolo was the less volatile of the two and still struck on his fourth match point.

Tallon Greekpoor is the third Dutchman to play in men’s singles. He will play against the Italian Matteo Arnaldi on Tuesday.