![\"Ugo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/blanchet-us-open-2025-wednesday.jpg\")
<\/p>\n ATP Tour
\n He read the Harry Potter series in English & French. Blanchet now turns page at US Open<\/p>\n
French qualifier meets Machac for fourth-round spot on US Open debut<\/p>\n
August 29, 2025<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Corinne Dubreuil\/ATP Tour<\/p>\n
Ugo Blanchet stuns Jakub Mensik on Wednesday to reach the third round at the US Open.
\n By Andy West<\/p>\n
Ugo Blanchet<\/a> remembers the moment he needed to make a change. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was my 22nd birthday,\u201d the Frenchman recalled to ATPTour.com at the US Open<\/a>. \u201cI was World No. 900. Still a good player, because No. 900 is already a good level of tennis. But my parents paid for everything. I had a girlfriend, and I couldn\u2019t buy her anything. So I said to myself, \u2018If I really want to do this job, I have to change quickly to try to have a real chance to play in bigger tournaments.\u2019 <\/p>\n \u201cNow my girlfriend is much happier.\u201d <\/p>\n Blanchet may deliver that story in a slightly light-hearted manner, but it is a fitting anecdote that helps summarise his tennis journey so far. He had already turned 26 when he made his Grand Slam main-draw debut in May at Roland Garros<\/a>, making him a late bloomer in comparison to the majority of his peers. Despite that long wait, he holds no regrets. <\/p>\n \u201cI think everybody has their own path,\u201d said Blanchet. \u201cMine has been longer, because I was not very professional in my approach to practising and playing. I think some players understood it sooner than me, but at the end it\u2019s okay. I learned later than most other players who are here, but I am happy.\u201d <\/p>\n Last week, Blanchet\u2019s girlfriend and parents were in New York to watch him drop just one set across three qualifying matches at the US Open<\/a>. They have all since had to return to France for work, but he remains well-supported at Flushing Meadows by his coach, former World No. 50 Stephane Robert<\/a>. <\/p>\n The departure of most of his entourage has done little to stall Blanchet\u2019s progress. On his US Open<\/a> main-draw debut on Sunday, he saw off Fabian Marozsan<\/a> in four sets. Three days later, he stunned the fast-rising #NextGenATP Czech Jakub Mensik<\/a> in a five-set thriller. A memorable moment, but Blanchet is eager for more. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really happy with the win,\u201d said Blanchet of his 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(10-7) triumph against the 16th-seeded Mensik. \u201cMy first one in five sets and my first time into the third round of a Grand Slam, and first win against a Top 20 player. But at the end of the day, it is just five sets. I need to prove it multiple times against these players to say that my level is really high and that I can compete with these guys the whole year.\u201d <\/p>\n Competing in New York as the World No. 184, Blanchet\u2019s off-court passions include following French football powerhouse Olympique de Marseille, while he also identifies himself as a huge \u2018Potterhead\u2019. <\/p>\n “I am a big fan of Harry Potter. I went to London to visit the studios and I\u2019ve read all the books in French, and in English to learn [the language better],” said Blanchet. “I think they are better in English, but because of my [reading] level, I prefer them in French.\u201d <\/p>\n Blanchet\u2019s time so far this summer in New York has been all about tennis, however, and he will head into his third-round meeting with 21st seed Tomas Machac<\/a> flying high with confidence. Should the Frenchman win, he will surpass his career high of No. 139 in the PIF ATP Rankings after the US Open<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThe journey has been good,\u201d said Blanchet, reflecting on his five wins so far in New York. \u201cI think since my first match I\u2019ve played really good tennis, so I\u2019m happy with my level. I have good confidence in my game so I\u2019m happy to come here and get some victories. <\/p>\n \u201cThese past two matches I think it was tough to stay focused on the game because I was already happy with qualifying, but I wanted more, so I am happy to be here.\u201d <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATP Tour He read the Harry Potter series in English & French. Blanchet now turns page at US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-119828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1756520888_709_it-all-adds-up-banner.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nUgo Blanchet” style=”width: 100%;” src=”https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/-\/media\/images\/news\/2025\/08\/29\/02\/40\/blanchet-us-open-2025-wednesday-celebration.jpg”>
\nBlanchet earned the biggest win of his career against World No. 16 Jakub Mensik<\/a> on Thursday. Photo Credit: Elsa\/Getty Images <\/p>\n