Sinner, Tsitsipas Rally At French Open; Dimitrov Downs Hurkacz, Alcaraz Rolls
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Carlos Alcaraz played his best match of the event blowing past Felix-Auger Aliassime 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 to reach his third straight French Open quarterfinal.
Alcaraz had lost three times before to the Canadian but today had no issues with his game or with his forearm.
“I am really happy with my performance today,” Alcaraz said after. “I think I played a really high level of tennis. Really focused, no ups and downs in the match. That is something I am working on. I am really happy with everything, my serve, my movement, my shots. I know that Felix is a great player and playing great tennis. The Head2Head he was up and I was looking forward to being equal with him. I am really happy to get the win in the end.”
It’s Alcaraz’s sixth straight Grand Slam quarterfinal. He’s been the French Open favorite from day one.
Up next will be Stefanos Tsitsipas. The former finalist was serving down a set and 3-5, 15-40 before rallying past 23-year-old Italian Matteo Arnaldi 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-2.
“I had to push today. It was one of the craziest comebacks I have had,” Tsitsipas said to the ATP. “The momentum seemed to be going his way the entire match. It was very frustrating on my end because I thought I was trying my best, trying to make him move, but nothing really seemed to be working.
“The spirit is the reason I managed to comeback today. Even at 3-5 in the second set I felt that I could comeback. That there was power in me to turn this match around and I think the game at 5-4 when I broke him was the biggest pleasure I experienced in tennis for a long time because I felt there was a chance. Now me and the crowd are on this and it felt amazing.”
Alcaraz leads Tsitsipas 5-0 with a win in quarterfinals a year ago.
“I am really looking forward to playing this match,” Alcaraz said of Tsitsipas. “I love this kind of challenge, these matches. I have seen a lot of matches lately from Stefanos and I know he is playing great and has a lot of confidence right now. But I think I have the key against him so will try to put the shots that put him in trouble. I will try to show my best.”
Grigor Dimitrov kept his strange hammerlock on Hubert Hurkacz defeating the big-serving Polish star for 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-6(3). Dimitrov had a break lead in the third but eventually took care of it in a breaker.
At 33, Dimitrov is into his first French Open quarterfinal in his 14th try! He’s now made the quarterfinals at all four Grand Slam events. He’s also now 6-0 against Hurkacz and 7-0 against him in breakers.
“It’s very hard to play against such a good friend. I’ve known him for quite a few years,” said Dimitrov on court. “We practice a lot and we’ve had quite a few moments together. I knew it was going to be a difficult match, but I knew also that I had to fight a lot.
“I always wanted to get to that second week. Roland Garros was the only Slam where I felt that I could not get that extra step. But today, 15 years later, I made it, so I’m very happy with that.”
In the evening night match, Jannik Sinner won his 11th Grand Slam match of 2024 defeating the pesky Corentin Moutet who was the last Frenchman left in the draw.
Moutet came out in stunning fashion breaking the Australian Open champion immediately and running away with the set going up 5-2. Sinner would get on the board but the lefty would get the set and then grab a quick break to start the second.
Sinner didn’t panic and dominated from there winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 taking 18 of the last 23 games. The Italian, who dropped his first set of the event today, is now 11-0 in Slams this year and 32-2 overall.
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