ATP
Roland Garros 2024 Men’s Day 5
Novak Djokovic stepped up his Roland Garros title defence with a commanding 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory to reach the third round in Paris on a rainy Thursday.
The three-time Paris champion dispatched Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena in three sets as the Serb seeks his first title of 2024.
The consistent top seed has reached the third round here for the 19th consecutive time after a match played under the roof of the Charier showcourt.
The last two or three days have been tough for the public with the weather,” the 24-time Grand Slam winner said.
“I’m glad we were able to play under the roof.
“It was a good match, Robereto is a precision player with a lot of quality. He makes minimum errors, I really had to work for my points.
“In the last set I played really well and lifted my game. I’m content with my performance today.”
Fourth seed Alexander Zverev, semi-finalist at the last three Paris editions, followed up on his first-round knockout of Rafael Nadal by repeating the victory scenario 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2 over David Goffin.
The German winner spent almost two and a half hours in assuring a place in the third round thanks to 37 winners and four breaks of the Belgian’s serve.
The Rome champion has now won his last eight matches as he defeated former quarter-finalist Goffin in their sixth meeting.
“Maybe I didnt’ play my nest in the beginning,” Zverev said. “his game in uncomfortable for me.
“It was not easy at times but I managed to get through and I’m happy that I did.
The winner said he would have preferred more favourable conditions.
“The warmer it is the better for my game. I still managed well todya.
“Of course we would all prefer sunshine but that’s something we cannot control.”
Daniil Medvedev only needed an abbreviated session on the covered Lenglen court as Serb Miomir Kecmanovic retired injured after just 55 minutes to hand the fifth seed a 6-1, 5-0 win.
Kecmanovic, ranked 57th, was unable to go on as he trailed a set and two breaks against the seed whose weakest Grand Slam has always been Paris.
The challenger asked for the trainer in the second set and retired two games later.
Medvedev said he had no idea of the situation on the other side of the net.
” I didn’t know he was injured. Of course you want your opponent to be full shape, healthy.
“It’s unfortunate that he didn’t feel good. I don’t know what exactly he had, so I hope nothing serious.
“But I was happy with my level and looking forward to the next matches. We were a bit lucky with all the weather to be finished with good timing.”
Some matches were completed during various dry spells, with Italian Matteo Arnaldi defeating Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
Sebastian Korda beat Korea’s 494-ranked Soonwoo Kwon 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Tenth seed Grigor Dimitrov took advantage of a break in the weather to stop Fabian Maroszan 6-0, 6-3, 6-4.
As the weather cleared in early evening, Polish eighth seed Huber tHurkacz finished off a 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (5) defeat of Brandon Nakashima of the US, firing 16 aces.
Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime put out German qualifier Henri squire 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
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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