Roland Garros road trip - Trungelliti drives 10 hours for French Open win

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Paris, May 29: Marco Trungelliti had just half an hour to pack his bags in Barcelona for an epic 10-hour drive to Paris made worthwhile by a first-round win at the French Open.

The unheralded Argentine, ranked 190th in the world, was preparing for a trip to the beach when Nick Kyrgios' elbow injury and an unlikely series of withdrawals left Bernard Tomic needing an opponent.

Trungelliti, who had been down the list of lucky losers, heeded the call and ushered his brother, mother and grandmother into the car for a mad dash back to the French capital, where he lost in the final round of qualifying on Thursday (May 24).

He did not waste a second chance, notching just his fourth career grand slam victory with a gritty 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4 defeat of former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Tomic.

"Actually, my grandma was in the shower and I told her 'okay, we go to Paris'," Trungelliti recounted to what he described as the largest media gathering of his career.

"There are many flights cancelled, so I didn't trust [them] too much. And then there is no train now in France [due to strikes] so the best option was just to take the car.

"My brother was the one who drove most out of the ten hours. He drove maybe six hours. I drove four hours with lots of different music."

And though he had to compete at Roland Garros on just five hours of sleep, Trungelliti described it as a "beautiful" trip.

"[Time to] think, coffee, and I drove a couple of hours. For me, I like it. So it was quite okay," he said.

Source: OPTA