ATP
Roland Garros 2024 Men’s Day 7
Alexander Zverev fought off a huge challenge from fired-up Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, escaping into the French Open fourth round on Saturday 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) after more than four hours on court.
The German fourth seed squeezed in as he extended his current win streak to nine matches after last mouth’s Rome title.
Zverev did it tough as Griekspoor worked to try and become the first from his country to defeat a Top 10 player at a major since Sjeng Schalken beat No. 8 Rainer Schuettler at 2003 US Open.
Zverev, involved in Berlin legal proceedings for domestic violence charges by a former partner, managed to hold on, overcoming a double break in the final set, and taking it into a best-to-10 match tiebreaker.
The three-time Paris finalist seed made up the gap from 4-1 down in the set, levelling at 4-all and stretching the epic into the deciding breaker, which he won; he improved to 9-1 in five-set matches at Roland Garros.
“When you are down 4-1 double break, especially against such a big server like
him in the fifth set, you don’t always win,” Zverev said.
“So, obviously, extremely happy that I did.”
He added: “There’s a very small chance you’re going to come back.
“I felt like I played a really, really good game at 4-1 down.
“4-3 I think he started to think. Then obviously in the tiebreak, I feel like the tiebreak was my best tennis throughout the entire match.”
Zverev, a three-time semi-finalist here, began the tournament with a defeat of Rafael Nadal; he overcame 41 unforced errors against Griekspoor,
The nervous winner confessed that he was set up to take the loss and leave Paris.
“Oh, my God, I already had a full speech for every single team member of my team ready. I already knew what I was going to tell my coach. I already knew what I was going to tell my hitting partner.
“I already knew what I was going to tell my physical trainer. I already had it all prepared. I was going to give them so much shit. You can’t imagine.”
It took nearly three and a half hours under the covered Lenglen court for fifth seed Daniil Medvedev to get past Tomas Machac 7-6 (4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.
The Czech challenger, wearing “bumblee” kit which included black short-shorts, finally blinked as he smashed an easy overhead into the net.
The fifth seed was quick to react, claiming victory a point later on a Machac error, his 61st unforced of the rainy afternoon.
“It was a very tough match, I was able to stay steady at the end,” the winner said. “I’m happy to go through.”
Felix Auger-Aliassime finished off a victory interrupted on Friday by rain, with the Canadian putting out American Bryan Shelton 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
“We started at night yesterday and finished today, so obviously, that’s
tricky,” the winner said. “. It was fortunate that I was able to break yesterday before the stoppage.
“I’m so happy with how everything went.”
FAA advanced into a fourth round match with Carlos Alcaraz thanks to 28 winners while Shelton was plagued by 36 unforced errors.
There was no repeat for Canadian compatriot Denis Shapovalov, who went down in the conclusion of a rain-hit match from the night before, losing 6-3, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-1 to Polish eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz,
“You’ve just got to manage yourself the best you can in the (rain) breaks, try to stay relaxed, not to focus too much on the match, because you don’t want to burn further energy,” Hurkacz said.
“Then when it’s time, just get ready for it and go.”
Australian Alex de Minaur broke new ground on clay, earning his career-best result on the surface with a trip into the fourth round after defeating German’s Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 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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