“The type of match we’re working for.” Professional players often use these words, and qualifier Tomas Machac is one of them today. The Czech will face sixth seed Arthur Fils of France in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters, the prize for a week that has pulled him out of a hard stretch of his season.

He beat French wildcard Kyrian Jacquet 7-6 (7), 6-1 on Monday for his third straight win, after coming through qualifying. He did not drop serve. Speed, agility: the Machac who once reached the top 20 is back.

Machac’s long way back from a foot injury

His season split in two in Paris. Alexander Zverev of Germany beat Machac 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of Roland-Garros in May. The Czech then missed three months with a foot injury.

He came back at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 in August, where Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain beat him 6-3, 6-2 in his opening match. At the US Open, Britain’s Toby Samuel beat him 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. In Beijing, Alex Molcan of Slovakia beat him 6-3, 6-2.

The autumn brought closer defeats, and the level was coming back. Karen Khachanov beat him 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7) in Almaty. A week later in Vienna, Australia’s Alex de Minaur came back from a set down to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Machac arrived in Paris with two wins from nine main-draw matches since his return. The qualifying turned that around. He beat Martin Landaluce of Spain 6-4, 6-3, then top seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina 6-2, 6-4.

Against Jacquet, he won three matches in a row for the first time since January. That month, he had won the Adelaide title by beating Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-2 in the final.

Machac’s process: enjoy the match, not the result

After months of defeats, Machac says he no longer plays for the outcome. “It’s not like I’m searching for victories or points or money,” he said on Monday. “I just try to enjoy the match, like today.”

He hit 15 aces against Jacquet and held all 10 of his service games, but he did not describe it as easy. “It’s not like I’m sailing through my service games,” he said. “What is great is that I manage to focus and to find the serve on the right spot, or the right forehand, when it’s most important.”

“My level is growing and feeling greater and greater,” he said. “Physically I feel great, mentally I feel good, I feel the tennis is there.”

Fils, a home crowd and a first time at La Défense

Fils, ranked No. 7, opens his tournament after a first-round bye. It will be their first meeting. A run to the quarter-finals would guarantee the Frenchman a place at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Fils has never played the tournament in its new home. “It’s the first year I’m playing here, I’ve never set foot on these courts,” he said on Sunday. “Since the start of the season, I’ve been waiting to play in Paris. I don’t know if the atmosphere will be as crazy as at Bercy, but the arena is huge.”

“If I can have the backing of the crowd, the support of the crowd, it will help me a lot,” he added. “So I’m very, very impatient.”

Machac has already had a taste of a crowd against him, with Jacquet on Monday. “Even when the crowd was against me, I was grateful that I could be in this position, to face these kinds of tough conditions, because that’s how I grow as a player,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to playing Fils, because I didn’t play him yet,” Machac added. In the third round, the winner will face Molcan, 11th seed Taylor Fritz or French qualifier Benjamin Bonzi.