The Moïse Kouamé phenomenon continues in Lille! The great hope of French tennis, who will celebrate his 17th birthday on March 6, qualified this Friday for the semifinals of the Play In Challenger Lille 2026 thanks to his straight-sets victory (6–3, 6–2, 1h49) over American Nishesh Basavareddy (20 years old, world No. 192). The Paris native, making his first appearance in a Challenger tournament, remains flawless in Lille, claiming a third consecutive win without dropping a single set.
So far, it has been a smooth week for Kouamé, backed by the entire northern crowd as well as around ten supporters from La Tribune Bleue. On court, Kouamé was mentally strong, as shown by the fact that he saved all eight break points he faced (8/8).
“The scoreline is harsh compared to how the match actually went,” admitted the young Frenchman. “He pushed me to my limits. I’m happy to have come through it and I hope to do even better tomorrow.”
This Saturday in the semifinals, he will face another Frenchman, Luca Van Assche (21 years old, world No. 130), who defeated his compatriot Clément Chidekh (24 years old, world No. 205) 6–2, 6–3.
Another opportunity for Kouamé to keep climbing the ATP rankings, as he is already guaranteed to rise to world No. 397 thanks to his semifinal run. After his win on Friday, he hinted at his ambitions: “It’s still a long way from being world No. 1; there’s still a lot of work to do. It’s good because it’s another step forward, but we have to keep working.”
Droguet and Bonzi Fall Short
The other semifinal could have been an all-French affair, but neither Titouan Droguet (24 years old, world No. 120) nor Benjamin Bonzi (29 years old, world No. 112) managed to reach the final four.
Droguet was beaten by Switzerland’s Jérôme Kym (23 years old, world No. 197) 4–6, 7–5, 2–6 (2h02), while Bonzi never found the solution against Belgium’s Alexander Blockx (20 years old, world No. 104), losing 3–6, 4–6 (1h22).
“I’ve felt very good since the start of the tournament, I’m serving very well, I feel great on court, and I played one of my best matches of the year,” the Flemish player commented just after his victory.
Saturday’s doubles final will pit Metej Vocel (28, Czech Republic) and Jakub Paul (26, Switzerland) against the duo of Filip Pieczonka (21, Poland) and Ivan Liutarevich (30).
