Marco Trungelliti's grandmother Dafne Botta and his brother Andre after the Argentine beat Bernard Tomic on Monday. Credit:AP A 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4 victory on Court Nine would not have made much of a global impact had it not been for his exploits over the last 24 hours, which turned him into the man of the moment. A second chance A rule change introduced to prevent injured players from starting matches and then withdrawing mid-contest is what made the Trungelliti tale possible. He had lost his final-round qualifying match on Friday, but when Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the main draw on Sunday and the next standby player, India's Prajnesh Gunneswaran, was unable to take part because he was already entered in the draw for a low-key event in Vicenza, Trungelliti was on the clock.

Argentina's Marco Trungelliti beats Bernard Tomic in the first round of the French Open. Credit:AP That Trungelliti had never expected to be sliding on the regal clay courts of Roland Garros this year makes his victory so special. That he had to hammer along the road for hour upon hour, squashed in with family members who had only arrived from Argentina days earlier for a holiday, to make the draw on time makes it extraordinary. Bernard Tomic's loss to Marco Trungelliti has provided the feelgood story of the French Open so far. Credit:AP Trungelliti said that his brother Andre, mother Susana, and grandmother Daphne, had recently arrived, and that he'd been settling into his break.

"They had hired a small car to see Barcelona and some other places. So when I got the news, we just jumped in," he said. "We left Barcelona at 1pm, arrived in Paris at 11pm or something ... so 10 hours. I then slept for five hours then arrived at the club at around 7.30am. "In Argentina, unless you live in Buenos Aires, a 1000km drive is nothing, so it was all okay." Loading The long-haired 28-year-old looked good value for his win over Tomic, and will next face Marco Cecchinato.

Tomic shot down suggestions he was only playing tennis for money as he cut not so much a dejected but petulant figure following his loss. The Australian delivered another PR disaster in a sulky post-match press conference. The 25-year-old offered up a total of 64 words in response to 10 questions from an international tennis media eager on gaining an insight into the mind of one of the sport's most talented stars and biggest enigmas. "Yeah, I guess I was OK," Tomic said when asked if his gruelling run of seven wins on European clay had taken a toll on him physically in the two-hour, 54-minute defeat. "Yeah, we'll see. We'll see what's next," when asked if he could take renewed confidence into his preferred grass-court season.

"It is what it is. That's all I can say," when quizzed about his attire, in a veiled reference to the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist losing sponsorships following his claim that he was "a little bit bored" during his first-round defeat at the All England Club last year. When grilled about his desire, Tomic - who has readily admitted he has not given 100 per cent in plenty of matches throughout his turbulent career - was even more curt. "Next question," he said when asked "are you in this primarily for financial reasons or do you want to do other things?" The bitter postscript was a sad finale to what had been a promising campaign for the one-time world No.17. Trungelliti has the air of a man on a mission, and with better preparation for that second round match his family might well consider extending their trip to take in a most unlikely chapter.

The smile on his face as he clinched victory, and the grin and thumbs-up gestures he waved around the court as he left the arena showed this is one tennis player who is intent on making the most of a second chance. "I am feeling so relaxed," he grinned. "For me it is perfect. I lost [in qualifying], I left, I ate barbecue – which for an Argentine is one of the reasons to stay alive – so I am very, very relaxed." Reuters, AAP