Kovacevic rallies past prodigy Kouame in Montpellier
Eighth seed Aleksandar Kovacevic weathered a fierce first-set challenge from 16-year-old Moise Kouame, turning the tide on the indoor hard courts of the Open Occitanie to claim a hard-earned victory and steady his early-season form.
Under the steady hum of Montpellier‘s indoor arena, eighth seed Aleksandar Kovacevic stared down a rising threat on Wednesday. The American, fresh off a finalist finish here last year, met Moise Kouame, a 16-year-old French qualifier carrying the spark of potential history. Kovacevic absorbed the teenager’s early fire, dropping a tight 6-7(5) set before surging to a 6-2, 6-2 finish in one hour and 54 minutes, marking his fourth tour-level win of 2026.
The Open Occitanie‘s swift hard courts favored precision, and Kovacevic delivered with his serve. He pocketed 82 percent of first-serve points—41 out of 50—while steering clear of break trouble until the match’s final game, which he saved to seal the deal.
“He was outplaying me in the first set,” Kovacevic said of Kouame. “I didn’t feel super comfortable, first match of the week. And then I got settled in a little bit and I think he dropped his level just a tad. it’s tough to play a player like that, I’ve never really seen him play at all, but definitely impressed.”
First set probes early resolve
Kouame charged out with bold baseline work, his heavy topspin forehands carving crosscourt angles that pushed Kovacevic deep. The crowd fed off the local’s energy, their cheers swelling as the teenager’s 1–2 patterns—serve into an inside-in backhand—disrupted the American’s rhythm. Yet Kovacevic hung tough in the tiebreak, his returns clipping the lines just short, the set’s tension mirroring the weight of Kouame’s quest for a first tour win.
This opener tested mental edges on a surface where balls skid low and fast. Kovacevic, shaking off week-one nerves, began eyeing adjustments: deeper returns to jam the qualifier’s serve, more slice backhands to vary the pace. The shift hinted at experience trumping raw speed, as the French support turned from roars to hushed anticipation.
Serve dominance sparks turnaround
Into the second set, Kovacevic locked in his delivery, firing wide to the deuce side and following with down-the-line forehands that exploited Kouame’s positioning. The teenager, who had become the youngest to qualify for an ATP event since Rudolf Molleker in 2017, started netting backhands under the mounting pressure. Breaks came swiftly, Kovacevic’s holds clocking under two minutes each, his topspin gripping the court to force errors in extended exchanges.
ATP Stats captured the pivot: no break points faced until the end, a stat that underscored the American’s growing command. Kouame’s flashes of net aggression faded, his unforced tally rising as the indoor tempo drained his youthful burst. The third set unfolded as a procession, the qualifier’s shoulders slumping amid the echoing silence of a home crowd now subdued.
Next round revives recent rivalry
Kovacevic exhaled post-match, this win buffering his rankings amid the tour’s early grind. Ahead waits another French qualifier, Titouan Droguet, who edged him 7-6(4), 7-6(8) last week at the Quimper Challenger. That tight defeat lingers, a reminder to sustain serve sharpness on these predictable boards.
For Kouame, the loss bites but builds; his qualification run plants seeds for future breakthroughs, one rally at a time. Kovacevic presses on, his composure in Montpellier a foundation for deeper advances, where every hold could tilt the season’s balance toward contention.
