French tennis player Arthur Géa reached his first ATP Tour semifinal on Friday, defeating Francisco Cerundolo 6-7, 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tournament in Los Cabos, Mexico. Cerundolo is ranked 20th in the world, making it Géa's second career victory over a top-20 player.
The 21-year-old arrived at the tournament site well ahead of schedule, a decision that stemmed from a chaotic travel ordeal the previous week that had prevented him from competing at all.
A week of travel chaos
After reaching the final of the Challenger event in Grandy, Canada, Géa was set to travel to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for another Challenger tournament. A mechanical problem delayed his flight until Tuesday, pushing back his arrival to just after midday. He contacted the tournament referee to request that his first-round match be moved to Wednesday, but the request was refused.
That Tuesday morning brought further trouble. Géa recounted to the French sports newspaper L'Equipe that his 10 a.m. flight was no longer direct and had been pushed to noon, leaving barely 20 minutes to make a connection in Toronto before crossing into the United States and clearing customs. He and his team made it to the departure gate in under 10 minutes, only to be told by airline staff that the carrier had removed them from the flight because their luggage had not been transferred in time.
Despite repeated arguments, Géa was denied boarding. His only remaining hope was rain. He said showers at Bloomfield Hills gave him reason to believe his match might be postponed, so he booked a new flight from Toronto to a city an hour's drive from the tournament. He said he felt almost certain he could reach the venue in time for a 5 p.m. start.
Then, two minutes before that flight was due to depart, Air Canada sent another message saying the flight was delayed until the following day due to lightning and storms. Géa and his team rushed back to the desk and were rebooked onto the Detroit flight, passing through customs again in the process. He said the customs officers could not quite follow what was happening. That flight was delayed as well, and the tournament referee offered no guarantee his match would wait.
Four games, then nothing
Géa boarded the plane and learned on arrival that his match had started with a replacement player and had been stopped after just four games. He said the group decided quickly to head to Los Cabos, and by 2 a.m., only five hours after checking into a hotel, he was already back at the airport for a tournament that would not begin for nearly another week.
The journey to Mexico brought one more obstacle. At customs, Géa, who is sponsored by Lacoste, said he was required to pay taxes on his clothing because officials were concerned he might be smuggling goods. He told L'Equipe he figured his karma had to turn positive after all of that.
The early arrival in Los Cabos may have helped him acclimatise to conditions in Mexico. Before adding the ATP points from this semifinal run, Géa was already at the highest ranking of his career.
