#NextGenATP Molleker Among First Eight Roland Garros Qualifiers

#NextGenATP German Rudolf Molleker is two-for-two.

The 18-year-old qualified for his second Grand Slam main draw on his second attempt Thursday, defeating Colombian veteran Santiago Giraldo 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 at Roland Garros.

“It is super-tough to qualify. These are the best players in the world playing from World No.100 to the Top 250,” Molleker told RolandGarros.com. “The standard is so high, so to win three matches in a row is super-hard.”

Molleker, who also qualified at the Australian Open before falling to Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the main draw. Against Giraldo, who competed in the main draw at the year’s second Grand Slam every season from 2007-18, Molleker hit 35 winners and broke serve five times.

Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez will contest the main draw in Paris for the 16th consecutive year after coming back to defeat German Oscar Otte 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 in one hour and 45 minutes. Garcia-Lopez reached the fourth round here in 2014, upsetting Stan Wawrinka in the first round. 

Two Italians will make their Roland Garros main draw debuts, as Stefano Travaglia and Salvator Caruso moved through. Travaglia defeated Belgian Steve Darcis 7-6(3), 6-3, while Caruso battled past German Dustin Brown 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. 

Also moving into the main draw were Germans Yannick Maden and Yannick Hanfmann, Belgian Kimmer Coppejans and Russian Alexey Vatutin. Eight more players will qualify on Friday.