Tommy Paul survived, with help from Marton Fucsovics | Roland Garros Wrap, Day 4

Stream every match from Roland Garros on the Tennis Channel app, each day after 11 p.m. ET. 3 to Stream, our daily wrap of the action in Paris, highlights you three matches you'll want to read about—and then replay.

No less a tennis authority than John McEnroe said that he never played a big match in which he didn’t choke at some point, in some way. The key to winning wasn’t trying to avoid an anxiety attack; it was trying to manage it when it happened.

We saw the enduring wisdom of McEnroe’s words in at least three matches at Roland Garros on Wednesday. Two players managed their way through their panic and won, while a third stumbled at the finish line and never recovered.

Here’s a look at each of these lengthy psychodramas.

Paul, down two sets, “felt like there was more to do at Roland Garros for me”

Tommy Paul d. Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4

👉 Stream the full match replay HERE

If you’re up two sets to love, and you serve for the match at 5-3 in the fourth, and you end up losing 6-4 in the fifth, it’s safe to say you choked at some level.

That’s what the 124th-ranked Fucsovics did against the 12-ranked Paul today. His five-set defeat, in an ultra-grueling three hour and 38 minutes, was surely one of the most painful of the 33-year-old Hungarian’s long career—and he’s taken his share of tough losses. But when you look at how it happened, it’s hard to say he suffered a total collapse. He missed a few key shots by inches, Paul clipped a couple of lines, and the match turned on those tiny moments and margins. All of which might make it even more painful.

When Fucsovics stepped up at 5-3 to serve, everything seemed under control. He had just broken Paul, who was struggling with ab pain. At 15-15, Fucsovics played a brilliant point, rallying steadily before pulling the trigger on a winning down the line forehand. He didn’t rush, he didn’t get tight, he didn’t pull up on the ball.

Read more: Can Tommy Paul break the curse for U.S. men at Roland Garros?

On the next point, though, Fucsovics sent a backhand an inch over the baseline, to make it 30-30. Then he missed what would have been a service winner by another inch. Then, in perhaps his first sign of nerves, he was a half-step late on a forehand and put it in the net. Then, at 30-40, he suffered his first brain cramp, choosing to slice a backhand, and putting that in the net, too.

The nightmare blend of bad luck and nervous tension continued over the next two games for Fuscovics. A backhand return of his landed just wide, while a Paul return dropped onto the sideline, and another Paul forehand caught the outside of the line. Destiny, and the fourth set, were the American’s.

Fucsovics rebounded and fought valiantly through the first six games of the fifth, as both guys were doubled over after bruisingly long rallies. In the end, Paul was a little better mentally, and had a little more left physically.

That, apparently, was part of the plan.

“The only thing that was really going on in my mind was extending, extending points, extending games, extending the match,” Paul said of how he made his comeback. “Wasn’t really ready to go home yet. Felt like there was more to do at Roland Garros for me.”

It won’t get easier. Next up is Karen Khachanov, who also won in five sets. Paul says his ab pain won’t keep him from competing in two days.

“I’m going back out there. I’m going back out to play, for sure. I want to go out there with the idea of trying to win.”

Gigante played like his name and sent Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the Top 20

Matteo Gigante d. Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4

👉 Stream the full match replay HERE

“Oh my goodness, what was that?”

That incredulous reaction came from Robbie Koenig in the commentary booth, as a forehand from the 167th-ranked Gigante dive-bombed into the bottom of the net.

Koenig was stunned in part because it wasn’t something he had seen before from the 23-year-old Italian lefty on this day. For two-plus hours and nearly four grinding sets, he had played fearless tennis, launching his not-so-gigantic frame—despite his name, he’s only 5-foot-11—into his ground strokes and pulling the trigger on drop shots whenever the spirit moved him.

But now those carefree hours were over. Gigante was serving at 4-3 in the fourth, two games from the win of a lifetime for a qualifier.

Gigante’s flailing forehand gave Tsitsipas a break point. On the bright side, though, as soon as his lead went away, so did his nerves. He saved that break point with a surprise forehand drop shot that left Tsitsipas looking dumbfounded. Gigante saved a second point with a backhand drop that did the same.

In all, Gigante would save eight break points while serving at 4-3 and 5-4. The noise and tension in the arena rose, as Tsitsipas kept coming to the brink of leveling the set. But Gigante always found a way to hold back the tide. He saved three of those break points with good serves, and another with a drop shot that Tsitsipas sent long. The closest call came when another Gigante backhand drop grazed the net and went over.

Finally, Gigante reached a match point, and lived up to his name by smacking an ace down the T for the win. He had choked, but he had won.

With the loss, Tsitsipas, a runner-up here in 2021, will drop out of the Top 20 for the first time in seven years. He said he would have to go back to the drawing board, but he also praised Gigante’s effort.

“I have to give credit to my opponent, of course, because he played incredible tennis,” Tsitsipas said. “And his athleticism, his determination throughout the match, impressed me.”

Pera made it one more American in the 3rd round, in a squeaker over Vekic

Bernarda Pera d. Donna Vekic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3)

👉 Stream the full match replay HERE

You might think that having a 2-0 record against an opponent would relieve your nerves a bit when you try to close them out for a third time. But that wasn’t the case when Pera faced Vekic today.

The American had beaten the Croat in both of their pervious matches, and up until she served at 5-4 in the third set, she had been the stronger player again on Wednesday. But Vekic has always been higher-ranked, and last year she won a silver medal at the Olympic on these courts.

Whether it was the ranking, or the medal, or just good old-fashioned nerves, Pera suddenly couldn’t keep a ball in the court. Or anywhere near it. At 5-4, she started with a backhand long, followed with a double fault, sent a forehand long, and then, at break point, launched a backhand nearly into the back fence.

The errors from Pera continued through the next game, which Vekic won. Serving at 5-6, Pera hit another forehand well long to make it 15-15. But just when she looked ready to throw the match away, she steadied herself. Pera hit a couple of good forehands, Vekic made a return error, and the crisis was over as quickly as it had begun. Pera resumed command in the deciding tiebreaker. Everything she had been missing, she was crushing now.

To take Johnny Mac’s words a step farther, maybe a match really doesn’t begin until one player starts to choke.