Matteo Berrettini took Italian revenge on Monday against the Argentine who knocked out Jannik Sinner with a 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) fourth-round demolition of Juan Manuel Cerundolo at the French Open.

Former top 10 player Berrettini, now mended after several seasons of intermittent injury absences sent the South American packing in a solid clay display.

The Italian saved three Cerundolo set points in the third-set tiebreaker, with Berrettini claiming a match point on an inside-out forehand, and following up with a serve winner.. 

“I feel great,” Berrettini said. “I’m happy with the support in a full stadium.

“This is why we train and fight, I’m enjoying the atmosphere with my team and family.”

Fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime booked the last eight as he put out another South American in Canadian-born Chilean AlejandroTabilo 6-3, 7-5, 6-1.

FAA becomes the first Canadian man to complete the set of quarter-finals at all four Grand Slam tournaments. 

The 30-year-old Berretini from Rome is competing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2021 when he also reached the last eight here.

The current No. 105 is the lowest-ranked men’s quarter-finalist in Paris since in 2007.

Cobolli lost his first set of the tournament as he ran up against an American with negligible experience on clay, defeating Zach Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5).

The 10th-seeded Italian’s victory put him into his second Grand Slam and his first in Paris.

“I was a little bit nervous to close the match today,” the winner said. “It means a lot, this tournament, for me.

“Sometimes it’s not easy when you have to close, especially when you are up in the score like I was today.

“But also Zachary played a really good match today after the second set…  tennis is like this.  At the end, I was happy, and that’s the important thing.”

Svajda came to the major with only one career match win on clay. He began correcting that in the third round by beating Francisco.Cerundolo.

Cobolli cruised through the first two sets but his perfect set record took a dent in the third as Svajda forced a tiebreaker and saved a match point after closing the Italian’s 5-1 lead and forcing a tiebreaker.

It took a tiebreak fourth set to settle the outcome after more than three and a quarter hours.

The WTA hype machine hit full power on Monday with the announcement that Serena Williams will mount a comeback to tennis three months shy of her 45th birthday.

While nothing is official, the 23-time Grand Slam winner who left the court in 2022 to concentrate on motherhood and business initiatives, will receive a wild card into doubles at next week’s Queen’s club event in London.

The American with 73 singles titles from an 18-year career walked away from  the game after a third -round loss at the 2022 US Open to Ajla Tomljanovic.

Queen’s officials have yet to confirm the wild card entry or a partner for Williams.

Rising clay powerhouse Marta Kostyuk kept the upsets rolling at Roland Garros on Sunday as she sent four-time champion Iga Swiatek out 7-5, 6-1, reaching the quarter-finals for the first time.

The Ukrainian stands an unblemished 15-0 on the dirt at the Tour level after defeating her former world No. 1 opponent who celebrated a bitter 25th birthday.

The exit of third seed Swiatek came a day after defending champion Coco Gauff was stunned by Anastasia Potapova and during a week where men’s top seed Jannik Sinner and three-time champion Novak Djokovic were both shown the door.

The Kostyuk victory sets up a clash in the last eight with compatriot Elina Svitolina, after the seventh seed defeated Swiss Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Svitolina will be playing the quarters here for a sixth time as the Rome champion plays the winner of Madrid and brings s 10-match win streak to the match.    

“There could not be a better tournament for us,” Svitolina said. “It’s an amazing achievement for Ukrainian tennis.

“It’s been difficult since the war and the (Russian) invasion. But this is something inspiring for the next generation to believe it’s possible to play sports.

“The match was not easy, I always have big battles with Belinda.  I tried to stay locked in with my tactics. I brought my best fighting spirit today.”

Kostyuk was one of a record four Ukrainian women who reached the third round in Paris; she arrived with titles in Rouen and the Madrid Masters.

Poland’s Swiatek lost for only the fourth time here and owns 43 victories at the clay major.

Kostyuk finished off the match with a pair of aces and set up match points with a drop shot. Swiatek drove a service return wide to lose after 98 minutes.

The 23-year-old from Kyiv broke new ground with her quarter-final, the second of her career at a Grand Slam after 2024 Australia. 

She had lost in three previous meetings with Swiatek – including Paris five years ago – never winning more than four games in a set.

“I’m still in shock,” the 15th-ranked winner said. “It’s incredible, I still cannot believe it.”

Kostyuk tried to explain her clay surge this spring:  “I’ve given myself the space to challenge my opponent. The most important thing for me is to enjoy.

“I woke up this morning and thought what a day I have to live. I want to keep enjoying, not focusing on winning or losing.

“”I’m not playing tennis to win. I’m playing tennis because I love it. I want to connect to people. I want to make people happy & unite people.”

The hour-long first set featured five breaks of serve, with Kostyuk dictating play to an opponent who normally takes that role.

The 15ht-ranked Ukrainian dropped serve to start the second set but got it straight back before sweeping to victory.

Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea, whose upcoming retirement at age 36 is looking more and more uncertain, powered into the last eight 6-3, 7-6 (4) over China’s Wang Xiu.

The pair each struck more than 30 unforced errors each and converted on a combined nine break points out of 21.

 Cirstea has been on a clay hot streak, reaching semis at both Rouen and Rome.

“It was a great match played really well,” the winner said. “I didn’t do much wrong and she played amazing.

“I was very happy to close it out in two sets as it was getting very, very hard at the end.”

Cirstea is playing her 17th French Open main draw and reached the quarters in 2009, her second appearance.

“There is no expiration date for dreams and ambitions,” she said. I love tennis. To still play at this level is an absolute joy.

“In life, you are free to do what you want – I want to pay and here I am. The farther I go, the less pressure I put on myself.

“My passion is tennis, I’m so grateful for everything that is happening.”

Cirstea moved into a match against eighth seed Mirra Andreeva, who needed four match points to finally prevail 6-3, 6-2 over Swiss Jil Teichmann.

Andreeva, 19, is into the Paris quarters for the third straight year and played a semi-final in 2024.

Teichmann saved three match-winners for Andreeva while trailing a set and 5-1, finally holding serve.

But the seed finished off the job a game later, coming good on her fourth chance,

“I was playing much better today than in my previous matches, she said. “Jil is tough and has been playing well.

“I had to be solid the entire match, I could not  afford mistakes like I made in the other matches.

I had extra focus from the first ball, I’m super-happy with how I played today.”