Hugging line judges, 'very unusual' racquet, camera debacle: Was Karen Khachanov versus Marco Trungelliti the best French Open match so far?

The Argentine put on a thrilling show brimming with on-court charisma as he suffered an eventual four-set defeat to No. 13 seed Karen Khachanov - offering high-value entertainment with two match points saved before his fate was sealed in the tense tie-break.

The 36-year-old won over the crowd with his gutsy performance, and seemed to revel in the occasion of playing on the secondary show court in Paris. Smiling between points and, at times, praying for miracles, his personality shone through during the gruelling encounter, which spanned nearly four hours.

"There's a huge amount of kids here," TNT Sports commentator Simon Reed said. "And they have really taken to Trungelliti. Something about him. The physical make-up, the way he plays, the character."

TNT Sports expert Tim Henman is fairly well-acquainted with the unseeded star, and revealed an interesting quirk about his racquet.

"At the United Cup, I was captain of the GB team," Henman said. "We practised with Trungelliti. He uses a leather grip.

"A leather grip is very unusual, and I would hate to be trying to hold onto a racquet with a leather grip in this weather. There's just no absorption, so hard on your hand. Unless you're used to it, you're going to get blisters galore."

But why would he use equipment which could so easily be deemed to disadvantage him?

"It's just what he's used to, it's what he's always done," Henman said. "He has tried to use other grips, he can't do it. Just a leather grip. It's very old-school. Stefan Edberg was the last guy."

As the pair became locked in a first-set tie-break, it soon became apparent the match would be one full of incident.

With Khachanov 2-1 ahead, he fell on the wrong side of a wildly unfortunate call, as his looping shot made contact with the camera cable suspended above the court, and despite the ball landing in, Trungelliti was awarded the point - much to the confusion of the Russian.

"I bet he couldn’t do that again if he tried," Anna Smith said on commentary. "Unfortunately for him, a bad piece of luck there."

Reed intervened: "He loses the point. Surely that should be replayed? That is so unlucky."

Khachanov recovered, though, to win the tie-break 7-5, but Trungelliti hit back immediately after another long set to draw level. It appeared his energy had been expended when Khachanov subsequently claimed a 6-1 set to take a big stride towards the third round.

However, one of the greatest sets of the French Open thus far then played out, with Trungelliti battling for every point and being serenaded by the buoyant crowd.

He slipped 4-0 behind after two swift Khachanov breaks, and was seen crossing his heart, praying for a miracle, shortly after cutting into his deficit.

Remarkably, Trungelliti did go on to level the set, saving two match points en route to a crucial break for 5-5. He did so having lost a point after colliding with the knee of a nearby line judge, and even took the time to hug the man who had certainly played some part in impeding his route to the ball - much to the delight of the crowd.

But it ultimately was not to be for Trungelliti, who fell just short in the tie-break, though he will no doubt have a new band of followers.

Khachanov, meanwhile, moves on to a third-round match against lucky loser Jesper de Jong.

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