Alejandro Tabilo gave Chile and Latin American tennis one of the stronger storylines of the French Open on Saturday, rallying past 17-year-old French wild card Moïse Kouamé to reach the Roland Garros round of 16 for the first time in his career. The Chilean left-hander beat Kouamé 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(9) in a tense third-round match on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, ending one of the tournament’s early feel-good runs and pushing himself into the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time.
It was not an easy exit for the French teenager. Kouamé, backed by a loud home crowd, took the opening set and later saved four match points in the fourth-set tiebreak before Tabilo finally closed out the match on his fifth opportunity.
For Tabilo, the win was a major career step. At 28, the Chilean has already built a strong résumé on the ATP Tour, including a career-high ranking of No. 19 and a famous win over Novak Djokovic in Rome. But before this week in Paris, he had never gone beyond the third round at a major. That changed against one of the most talked-about young players in the draw.
Kouamé arrived in the third round with the attention of the French public after wins over former U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic and Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo. His victory over Vallejo came in a five-set match that lasted nearly five hours and turned him into one of the stories of the first week.
The teenager’s rise also carried a Latin American link. Vallejo, one of Paraguay’s promising young players, had pushed Kouamé deep into a fifth-set tiebreak before falling. Two days later, Tabilo made sure the next chapter of the story belonged to Chile. Tabilo had to fight through a difficult start. Kouamé played with freedom early, using his forehand, movement and energy from the crowd to take the first set.
The French teenager looked comfortable under the spotlight, and for a while the match had the feel of another breakout moment for the local wild card. Tabilo settled in from the second set. He began controlling longer rallies, found more rhythm behind his serve, and used his experience to quiet the momentum building around Kouamé. The Chilean took the second and third sets, then held his nerve in a fourth set that could have easily slipped away.
The tiebreak was the match’s defining stretch. Kouamé refused to fold, saving match point after match point as the Paris crowd tried to pull him across the line. Tabilo kept pressing and finally ended the run, falling onto the clay after securing the win.
The result places Tabilo in select Chilean company. He is now the fourth Chilean man this century to reach the Roland Garros round of 16, joining Fernando González, Cristian Garín and Nicolás Jarry. For a country with a deep clay-court tradition, the win adds another chapter to Chile’s long relationship with Paris.
It also keeps Latin America present in a tournament that has already seen several major shifts in the men’s draw. With top names falling early, the second week in Paris has opened up in ways few expected. Tabilo will now face Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, a top-10 opponent, for a place in the quarterfinals.
For Kouamé, the defeat does little to slow the excitement around his future. At 17, he showed the kind of athleticism, nerve and shot-making that can turn a wild-card appearance into the start of something larger. But on Saturday, Tabilo’s patience and maturity won out.
For Chile, it was more than another third-round result. It was a reminder that Latin American tennis still has a place on the red clay of Roland Garros, and that Tabilo is no longer just a dangerous draw. He is now a second-week player at a major.
