11:05
Before we start the highlights, get into it. The F in fo stands for five sets. It sure does. Had the five set win in a second round victory over QB Her. And in this round, he's up against a qualifier, little known qualifier from Portugal. And Faria, who came out playing really, really well. Takes the first set 6-4. They get into a second set tiebreaker here. I think Big Fo was just a little surprised at this guy's level. His backhand was absolutely money. As you can see, Evaness right there. for that back end down the line. The big one in the tiebreaker. He takes another backhand pass right there. He takes the second set of tiebreaker. He's up two sets of love. But you got to give Big Fo
a lot of credit. This 4-3 game where he breaks. Uh Fario had about three game points on his serve. They take it to 5-3. Big Fo showed so much heart. He absolutely earned that break and he absolutely earned this third set as well. So at this point, he has all the momentum after the third set. You can see he gets up an early break in the fourth. He started playing so much better. His shot his shots, excuse me, started having a lot more on them. His backhand was absolutely money um after the second set and after that third set tiebreaker victory. Gets it into a fifth set and it was all fog. Takes the fourth set 6-1 and he eventually gets the break at 3-2 and then gets another break at
5-2 to close it out 62 in the fifth set. An absolutely huge win with a lot of heart for big foe. There was a time when Francis Thapo couldn't win a five- set match at Roland Garros. He has now won three in a row. Second time he has come back from down 02. My favorite part of the match when he was going up and back with Faria came right up to the net said, "Why don't you quit trying to act like you're tough? You're not hard, bro. Just play." The DMV came out and FOE advances on. Francis Thafo caught up with R. Sloan Stevens after the match. Francis, incredible match today. You were down two sets to love and a break.
What was going through your mind at that point? Not a lot of good things, that's for sure. Um, but I was like, if I can just get a break, I know, you know, I don't want him want to try to get a break when he's serving for it. If I can just try to get a break back here and play a super tough game, you know, things can change and, you know, get back on serve. And once I held there and sorry, broke and then had a good hold, I felt like I can get through this if I just maybe squeak out this third set and you know, his body went and then once we got to chirping, I was like, I where I'm sitting at.
Yeah. So, back to back f five setters, which you haven't really done consistently with the wins though, with the wins. Your team started yelling, "Take his legs." I was like, "Yes, take his legs." How did you feel when you were looking on the other side of the court? What did you feel like his body language was giving? Yeah, I felt like he, you know, he wasn't scratching and getting those balls like he was in the first two sets. He was really going for broke when he started running. So, try to extend those points. And obviously, you're going to hurt a little bit in the process of that, but um yeah, he was just hurting way more than I was. So, I backed my fitness at this point and you know, experience. And then at the end there was a little
beef happening at the net. You came to the net, he was at the net. I feel like you showed a little bit of toughness there and that fired you up at the end. How are you feeling after that point after you guys met at the net? No, 100% 100%. You know, and I felt like I needed that, too, cuz I'm, you know, I'm I'm up at the time, but I'm still a little nervous. So, and he was chirping. I He definitely gave me a lot of lip. He thought he was Ryan Garcia or something. So, I just had to definitely let him know like, "Yo, chill out, bro. Just play and just enjoy being in Paris and just play." So, um yeah, I mean, it was a little back and forth. Nothing serious, but I it
definitely went in my favor. Well, into the fourth round. Good luck.
