Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, ranked third in the world, qualified today, Friday, for the round of 16 of the Roland Garros tournament, on a day when Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev lost his nerve and left the tournament.
On another rainy day in Paris, Rublev Moscow, ranked sixth in the ATP rankings, surprised the young 22-year-old Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who for the third time in his career defeated a player from the top ten in the world with a score of 7-6 (8 ). -6), 6-2 and 6-4.
“I was very nervous at the end, because it was going to be the end of the match and one of the biggest wins of my life. But I managed it very well. “I focused on myself and doing things the right way,” Arnaldi commented after the win.
After saving a set point in the first set tiebreak, the Transalpine native (35 ATP players) remained in control of the match until victory was decided after two hours and 33 minutes, while Rublev, the Masters 1000m champion in Madrid, suffered several bouts of Anger after a questionable call for an outside ball by the chair umpire.
“I’m completely disappointed with the way I played. I think my behavior was the worst in a Grand Slam tournament. It’s the first time I’ve behaved so badly. My results were good, the problem is in the head. I think I finished myself,” admitted Rublev, who lost his mind in At the beginning of the year in the Dubai Championship, he ended up being expelled from the semi-finals.
In the next round, Matteo Arnaldi, who has qualified for the round of 16 of a major tournament for the second time, after the US Open in 2023, will face Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (ninth), runner-up at Roland Garros in 2021. Who ousted Chinese Zizhen Zhang (44th) today. Friday with a score of 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
At the conclusion of the night session on the main stage of the French Championship, on a day when rain forced the conclusion of three singles matches to be postponed until Saturday, Carlos Alcaraz fought a good duel with North American Sebastian Korda (28 players in the ATP), and won after two hours and 39 minutes. With a score of 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
The next opponent for the tennis player from Murcia, a semi-finalist in the Parisian Brick Dust a year ago and a two-time Grand Slam champion (US Open in 2022 and Wimbledon in 2023), will come from the confrontation between North American Ben Shelton and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. One of the singles matches postponed to Saturday.
Today was also marked by the qualification of the world No. 2 seed, Jannik Sinner defeated Pavel Kotov.
In women’s singles, on a festive day, Polish Iga Swiatek celebrated her 23rd birthday by defeating Czech Marie Bouzkova (42 professional player), 6-4, 6-2, ensuring for the sixth time, in six appearances, her passage to fourth place. A round of the tournament that he has previously won three times (2020, 2022 and 2023).
As Swiatek did, North American Coco Gauff, ranked third in the world and qualifier for the final in 2023, continued her victory over Ukrainian Diana Yastremska 6-2 and 6-4, as did Tunisian Ons Jabeur (9.ª), who defeated Canadian Laila Fernandez with a score of 6-4. And 7-6 (7-5).
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