French Open 2025 Men’s Day 4

Published

1 year ago

May 28, 2025

Holder Carlos Alcaraz lost his first set of the fortnight on Wednesday at the French Open but did not let the setback stop him from a third-round spot in the clay classic.

The second seed who beat Alexander Zverev for the trophy a year ago, overcame Hungarian Fabian Maroszan 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2

The 22-year-old became the first man born in the 2000’s to win 20 matches here, reaching the Paris third round for the fifth time.

Alcaraz slipped in the second set as his underdog opponent claimed that set; but the Spaniard quickly re-established his level to run out the winner in just over two hours.

“I started well with high confidence,” he said. In the second set he started playing better, more aggressive and not missing at all.

“It was difficult to deal with his game. But I was happy to stay strong, refresh and play better in the last two sets.”

Two-time finalist Casper Ruud found himself a shock upset victim of Portuguese Nuno Borges,with the Norwegian seventh seed beaten 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0.

The top Scandinavian revealed that he has been trying to manage injury over the last weeks of the clay campaign.

“For the last couple of weeks I’ve been struggling with knee pain on and off. I first felt it in Monte Carlos so it’s been with me the entire clay season.

“When you’re practising, it’s easier to avoid certain movements that are painful.

“But when you’re playing matches, you can’t really control it; you do everything you can to get to every ball.

“Sometimes you kind of forget that this is a shot I shouldn’t go for in terms of pain in the knee. When you play a match, you go full on.”

The Norwegian complained that ATP regulations are forcing some to compete while still hurt.

“It’s tough especially (to skip) mandatory events because the punishments are quite hard. Everyone else will play, gain points, and you won’t.

“There’s a certain bonus system that is reduced if you don’t show up to the mandatory events.

“One hand you don’t want to show up injured. But if you don’t play a mandatory event, they cut 25 per cent of your year-end bonus.

“You’re forcing players to show up injured or sick, or whatever, when that is not what I think is very fair.”

Newly minted seventh seed Lorenzo Musetti produced his second consecutive straight-set sweep, defeating Colombian lucky Loser Daniel Galan 6-4, 6-0, 6-4.

The Italian, who reached the Rome semi-finals, is hoping that his clay momentum will carry him to a personal best at Roland Garros.

“It’s been a tremendous clay season so far. But the ambitions now are higher. Of course, here I never reached more than the fourth round,” he said after achieving his 10th victory here.

“Hopefully this will be the year. The mentality is to try to beat everyone.

“I think I’ll have the chances to play (well against) everyone here. Hopefully I’ll take those chances.”

The Paris Olympic bronze medalist has won 15 of his 18 clay matches this season.

Australian Alexei Popyrin defeated Alejandro Tabilo 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 while American giant Reilly Opelka fell 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-3 to Argentine Marino Navone.

Runner-up four years ago, Stefanos Tsitsipas, was ambushed 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 by Italian lefthander Matteo Gigante, who saved four break points as he served for the upset..

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Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters

Published

2 days ago

July 16, 2026

Roger Parker

Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.

Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.

Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.

Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.

After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.

Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.

“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.

“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”

He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”

The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.

Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause

Published

2 days ago

July 16, 2026

Bill Scott

Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.

The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.

Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).

The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.

“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.

“It worked out pretty well.

“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”

After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker

“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”

The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.

“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”

Darkness reprieve for fading Tsitsipas in Gstaad

Published

2 days ago

July 15, 2026

Bill Scott

Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.

The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..

The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.

Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.

The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.

The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.

Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,

He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.

Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.