ATP
French Open 2025 Men’s Day 8
Carlos Alcaraz stepped up the tempo of his French Open title defence on Sunday as the second seed dismissed Ben Shelton 7-6 (8), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 for a place in the quarter-finals.
The Spaniard who defeated Alexander Zverev in the final here a year ago added to his ATP-leading match win total this season as he claimed his 34th in a bid for his fourth trophy of 2025.
He also notched his 100th Tour-level win on clay as he reached the last eight in Paris for a fourth time.
The 21-year-old disciple of retired clay king Rafael Nadal is the third Spanish man to achieve 11 Grand Slam quarter-finals after Nadal (47) and David Ferrer (17).
Alcaraz, who trailed in the first set decider and lost the third set, said he was not totally pleased with his performance.
“Today I fought against myself in my mind. “I tried to calm myself. I was angry and not saying good things, let’s sat.
“But I’m happy I didn’t let those thoughts go against me. When I was down I kept going.”
Shelton was unable to prevent his opponent from earning an 11th straight win at the clay-court major.
Alcaraz fought through the tight 67-minute first set which went into the tiebreaker, where Alcaraz trailed 4-1. Shelton missed on three set points before Alcaraz converted on his own second chance.
The second seed gave away a point under the rules on a volley in which he had to throw his racquet to touch the ball. But he schooled the chair official, explaining that the move was illegal as he did not have his racquet under his control when he won the point in the seventh game.
The second set was equally intense, with the Spaniard was forced to save six break points to hold in the opening game. A break in the penultimate game sent Alcaraz to a comfortable lead.
The third set featured back-to-back early breaks, with Shelton getting the last word as he won his first set with a break in the final game. Alcaraz wrapped up business in the fourth with a winner down the line on second match point.
American 12th seed Tommy Paul booked the third Grand Slam quarter-final spot of his career with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Alexei Popyrin.
He became the first American man to book the Paris quarters since Andre Agassi in 2003.
The match between a pair of former Roland Garros junior champions was a welcome relief for Paul, who needed to win five-set struggles in the previous two rounds.
Popyrin, winner of last summer’s Masters title in Montreal, came into the match without the loss of a set.
Pure saved nine of 10 break points he faced. He is also the only American currently playing to have reached quarter-finals at the majors on three different surfaces.
“We’re having a great time. I’m enjoying it (clay) a lot. It was nice to get a straight-sets win today, give the body a little rest,” the winner said.
“As much as I love the five-setters, I definitely like the three-setters a little bit better. I’m just excited for more matches.”
Paul added: “The key thing is always getting to the net more, playing more aggressive. On clay it’s a little tougher just because you’re so much farther back (on court).
“Every clay court season we’ve been adjusting and figuring out where is the best position for me to start points and play points; we’ve really moved back.”
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.
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.”
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.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
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