Stefanos Tsitsipas, Carlos Alcaraz to meet in French Open quarters

 

[June 03, 2024]  Stefanos Tsitsipas -- down a set and a break -- rallied to defeat Italy's Matteo Arnaldi 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2 and advance to the quarterfinals of the French Open on Sunday in Paris.

The ninth seed, Tsitsipas was serving down 5-3 in the second set and fended off three set points to stay alive. Serving at 5-4, Arnaldi had one set point, but the Greek managed to fight it off and break his opponent's serve to get back on track.

After the second-set tiebreaker, Tsitsipas was in firm command.

His reward for the comeback is a quarterfinal match Tuesday against third-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who easily eliminated No. 21 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

Also Sunday, second-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner and eighth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria advanced and will face each other in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Sinner recovered from a first-set loss to record a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Corentin Moutet of France, while Dimitrov moved on with a 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

Before thinking about the next round, Tsitsipas savored his victory in Paris.

"I had to push today. It was one of the craziest comebacks I have had," he said. "The momentum seemed to be going his way the entire match. It was very frustrating on my end because I thought I was trying my best, trying to make him move, but nothing really seemed to be working.

"The spirit is the reason I managed to come back today. Even at 3-5 in the second set I felt that I could come back. That there was power in me to turn this match around and I think the game at 5-4 when I broke him was the biggest pleasure I experienced in tennis for a long time because I felt there was a chance. ... It felt amazing."

The win set up a Roland Garros quarterfinal rematch with Alcaraz, who defeated Tsitsipas in straight sets in 2023 as the top seed.

Tsitsipas is seeking his first Grand Slam title. He has 11 career titles, five of them on clay, and was leading Novak Djokovic in the French Open final in 2021 before Djokovic won the final three sets.

Clay also is the preferred surface for Alcaraz, with seven of his 13 titles on clay.

Alcaraz is now 15-3 at Roland Garros.

"I am really happy with my performance today," Alcaraz said after his two-hour, 20-minute match. "I think I played a really high level of tennis. Really focused, no ups and downs in the match. That is something I am working on. I am really happy with everything, my serve, my movement, my shots."

As for Sinner, he committed 14 unforced errors and three double faults in the opening set before putting things together. He lost just six games over the final three sets.

Overall, Sinner had a 40-30 edge in winners and committed 31 errors, 13 fewer than Moutet. Sinner also converted 8 of 14 break points.

"It was very tough for me, I think he played very well in the first set," Sinner said afterward. "I had some chances but he played much better than me and I had to adjust.

"He had an amazing run here. He plays different than most opponents, he's also a lefty, so I'm happy to be in the next round."

Dimitrov reached the quarterfinals for the first time in 14 attempts at the French Open.

"Roland Garros was the only Slam that I felt I could never get to that extra step, but today, (14) years later, I made it," Dimitrov said. "So I'm very happy."

Dimitrov committed 28 unforced errors but Hurkacz had 43. Dimitrov improved to 6-0 against Hurkacz.

--Field Level Media

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