Lucas Pouille of France, the 16th seed, anticipated a competitive match having lost to Jared Donaldson, the twenty-year-old American, in two tight, tie-break sets earlier this month at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

Despite the recent loss on the hardcourts at the Masters 1000 event in Canada, the twenty-three-year-old Frenchman could draw confidence from his spectacular victory over Rafa Nadal in five sets in the fourth round of the 2016 US Open and two tour titles on different surfaces this season.

Just last week, Donaldson achieved a career high ranking of fifty-one in the world while Pouille, currently ranked twenty in the world, reached number thirteen this past May.

On a cloudless day on court 17, Pouille took the first two sets 7-5, 6-4 and appeared to be on his way to a straight sets victory but Donaldson, boasting a 12-9 record on hardcourts this season dug in.

Throughout the 3 ½ hour battle, both struck the ball aggressively from the baseline off both wings but Pouille consistently moved forward off well-placed approach shots to finish points at the net.

Pouille serving first in the third, faced three break points but maintained his composure and managed to hold with exceptional volleys and two aces. In the next game, Donaldson had game point at 40-30 but would lose serve following a double fault.

Up 2-0 in the third, Pouille faced a break point when he double faulted but held for 3-0 utilizing the slice and topspin two-handed backhand as well as an ace on game point. He would not be so lucky, however when serving up 3-1. Donaldson struck a service return winner to create a break point and converted when Pouille donated another double fault.

Donaldson would hold to consolidate the break and broke again to take the lead and eventually the third set 6-4 despite facing three break points when serving for it.

Pouille would also serve first in the fourth and both held serve to 3-3. The Frenchman over cooked several forehands to go down a break point and lost serve when he missed a slice backhand.

Pouille serving down 3-5 faced five break points and lost the set when his volley sailed long. There was not a seat to be had as word spread that the Rhode Island native had come back from two sets down to force a deciding set.

Donaldson would serve first in the fifth and held to love while Pouille hit an ace on game point for 1-1. The players continued to hold with relative ease despite additional double faults but in the ninth game, it was Donaldson who blinked first.

Although he led 40-15, Pouille continued to apply the pressure with his aggressive ball striking and broke to take the lead and serve for the match at 5-4. Pouille opened with a 131 mph ace and never looked back serving out the match at love.

As the stats convey, this five-set thriller was extremely competitive. Both had more winners than errors and broke serve seven times. Despite nine double faults for Pouille and ten for Donaldson, both had double digit aces and an average first serve speed of 119/118 mph respectively, with Pouille’s fastest clocked at 136 mph.

Pouille is hoping to equal or better his quarter-final run at the 2016 US Open but up next is Mikhail Kukushin whom he defeated in four sets in the first round of last year’s Open. Sounds to me like déjà vu!