Roland Garros 2024 Men’s Day 6

Jannik Sinner moved closer to a possible rise to world No. 1 as the second seed produced a third consecutive straight-sets victory which took him into the fourth round of the French Open on Friday.

The Australian Open champion dominated Pavel Kotov, winner in the second round over 2015 Paris champion Stan Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on the Chatrier showcase court.

According to ATP calculations, Sinner would need to reach next Sunday’s Roland Garros final to replace Novak Djokovic on the top spot and become the first Italian to stand atop the ranking table.

Sinner sealed two of his three winning sets against Kotov with aces as he repeated a spring victory from Madrid against the No. 56.

“I was happy to get through, and let’s see what I can do in the next round,” Sinner said.

“Tennis-wise I felt quite good today on court. Physically I feel like I still
have to improve a couple of things.

“I’m trying to be ready for the next round.

“I know that there are tough moments on the court, but, you know, you have to accept it and see the general view.”

Fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi led the way for his Sinner earlier in the afternoon as he shoved sixth seed Andrey Rublev to the exits as the first Top 15 men’s seed to lose after six days of play.

The No 35 outsider kept up the pressure to eliminate a frustrated Rublev 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4 in two and a half hours.

The emotional seed who was DQ’d last February in Dubai for a similar outburst against a linesman, seed melted down in the second set after going down a break, slamming his racquet onto the clay and screaming at his player box to no avail.

His level-headed opponent simply stayed steady to grind out the straight-sets win in heavy conditions with the Lenglen court roof both open and closed during the contest.

“This was incredible, I played the best match of my life for sure,” the winner said. “To do it in three sets at a Slam…I was not expecting.

“He was not playing his best tennis but I was able to find the tactics to put him under pressure and that worked well.”

Arnaldi, who produced nearly 50 winners in his upset victory, said winning the opening-set tiebreaker was key.

“It gave me a lot of energy and confidence, so I continued to push.”

Rublev expressed regret for his meltdown: “Completely disappointed with myself the way I behaved, the way I performed.

“I don’t remember behaving worse in a Slam ever.”

He added: “I had a lot of chances, and I didn’t make it. Then in one moment, if I completely lose it.

“I was keeping it inside, and when I lost the break second time in the second set, I lost it completely.”

Ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminated China’s “Treble Zed” Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, with the 2021 finalist form Greece moving into the fourth round here for a sixth straight edition.