The crazy day of Grégoire Barrère, qualified for the semifinals in Bucharest

It is one of those rare days that gives you maximum confidence and relaunches your career. Grégoire Barrère, who fell in nine months from 49th to 128th in the world, qualified on Friday for the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tournament in Bucharest, then for the semifinals. Yes, yes, same day. We rewind.

Arriving in Bucharest late last week to compete in qualifying, Barrère, 30, had struggled since the start of the season. With only 6 wins in 18 matches, the best win being a success against his compatriot Ugo Blanchet, 190th in the world, in the Marrakech qualifier, he no longer began to believe in a future on the court. But in Romania, after getting out of the preliminary table (bonus win against one of his best friends, Lucas Pouille), he got closer to his best level as if by magic.

On Wednesday he beat his first top 100 of the year, the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, 94. (7-5, 6-3). On Thursday, the rain kept him in the dressing room. And on Friday he entered the court at 10 o’clock to challenge the American Sebastian Korda, 26th in the world, and he made short work of it (6-4, 6-4 in 1h16). Four hours later he started his quarter-final against solid Spaniard Pedro Martinez (57th but defeated Casper Ruud and finalist in Estoril two weeks ago).

In the semi-final against an Argentine

Barrère could have won the first set, where he led 5-3, but lost in the tie-break. He then won the second 6-3 and, in a final act full of break points, extended the crucial gap to 3-3, taking Martinez’s serve point blank. After more than four hours of tennis in total for the day, he validated his ticket to the second semi-final of his career on the main court (6-7 [2], 6-3, 6-4 at 2h53). His Romanian week already guarantees him to knock on the door of the top 100 again, in the next ATP ranking.

On Saturday he will face the winner of the 100% Argentine quarter-final between Francesco Cerundolo (21st) and Mariano Navone (52nd). In all likelihood, this will be his only match of the day.