French Open day five: Iga Swiatek eases through as Daniel Altmaier shocks Sinner

By Sports Desk June 01, 2023

Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek eased into the third round of the French Open with victory over Claire Liu.

Coco Gauff set up an intriguing clash with 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, while Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina saw off teenage Czech Linda Noskova.

The match of the day saw German Daniel Altmaier defeat eighth seed Jannik Sinner in five hours and 26 minutes, the fifth longest match in tournament history.

Picture of the dayTweet of the dayQuote of the dayStat of the dayChina on the march

China has been a virtually non-existent presence in men’s tennis in the open era but three players featured in the main singles draw and Zhang Zhizhen, who will play Casper Ruud, is the first through to the third round since 1937.

Fallen seeds

Men: Jannik Sinner (8), Tommy Paul (16), Alex de Minaur (18)
Women: Madison Keys (20), Donna Vekic (22)

Who’s up next?

 

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Cameron Norrie will try to break new ground at the French Open when he takes on talented young Italian Lorenzo Musetti.

The British number one is yet to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros, where he could face top seed Carlos Alcaraz, who plays Denis Shapovalov in the night session.

Novak Djokovic faces Alejandro Davidovich Fokina while Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula are the leading women in action.

Related items

  • Sinner recovers to beat Moutet with classy performance Sinner recovers to beat Moutet with classy performance

    Jannik Sinner recovered from one set down to reach the French Open quarter-finals on Sunday, putting away home favourite Corentin Moutet with a classy display.

    A huge upset looked possible when Moutet took the first set and broke early in the second, but Sinner fought back to post a deeply impressive 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-1 victory.   

    Sinner seemed to be caught off-guard by Moutet in the opener, the French showman sinking a series of delicious drop shots with the world number two on his heels.

    Moutet carried that momentum into the second set, breaking straight away with his first four winners all being drop shots, yet Sinner soon learned, getting to the net well as he immediately broke back.

    That was a theme of the contest from then on, with Sinner making few mistakes with his approach play and dispatching a series of volleys at the net as he took the second set.

    Early in the third, it was the Italian pulling out the party tricks as he broke twice more en route to going a set up, much to the annoyance of a raucous crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

    Moutet threw his racket down after seeing his serve broken again in the first game of the fourth set, and then attempted – in vain – to snap his racket when Sinner converted at the end of a long rally to make it a double break, his outing ending in frustration. 

    Data Debrief: All-rounder Sinner in great company

    Sinner has become just the third male player since the year 2000 to reach multiple grand slam quarter-finals on every surface before turning 23, after Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

    He will face Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals after the 10th seed overcame world number eight Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets on Sunday.

  • 'Belief more important than match sharpness', Alcaraz insists after reaching Roland-Garros quarter-finals 'Belief more important than match sharpness', Alcaraz insists after reaching Roland-Garros quarter-finals

    Carlos Alcaraz insisted believing in himself is more important than match sharpness, after booking his place in the French Open quarter-finals.

    The 21-year-old is through to the last eight at Roland-Garros for the third year running - the youngest player to achieve the feat since Novak Djokovic (2006 to 2008) - after a dominant 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime.

    Although one of the favourites to go all the way in Paris, Alcaraz's preparations for the clay-court major were hampered by an injury to his right forearm.

    The Spaniard was forced to withdraw from the Barcelona Open and Italian Open, while his fitness struggles were evident when Andrey Rublev beat him in the Madrid Open quarter-finals.

    But Alcaraz, who continues to wear a supportive grip on his right arm, has not appeared too affected so far this fortnight, and seems to be going from strength to strength.

    "The most important thing is to believe in myself," he said after beating Auger-Aliassime. "It doesn't matter that I don't have too many matches on my back and that I didn't come with a lot of rhythm.

    "After every practice and every match, I was getting better and better and that was easy for me. On Phillipe Chatrier, it is easy for me to play.

    "I had to put as much effort in as I could. I felt strong in the rallies, and I was going to have my chances to break his serve and the good intensity in the match helped a lot. If I made him feel in trouble on his serve, I knew I was going to have a lot of chances.

    "I'm really happy with my performance today. I played a really high level of tennis. I know that Felix [Auger-Aliassime] is a great player. We were both playing great tennis today, but really happy to get that win in the end."

    Next up is a mouth-watering quarter-final showdown with 2021 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas for a second straight year at Roland-Garros, with Alcaraz eyeing his sixth victory from six meetings between the players.

    "I love this challenge and these kinds of matches," he added. "I have seen a lot Stefanos' matches lately. He has a lot of confidence right now and is playing great tennis.

    "I think I have the key against him, so I will try to make him in trouble. I will try to show my best and, hopefully, the crowd will enjoy as much as me."

  • 'It's not healthy' – Gauff warns tennis over late finishes after Djokovic thriller 'It's not healthy' – Gauff warns tennis over late finishes after Djokovic thriller

    Coco Gauff warned tennis must do more to protect player welfare after Novak Djokovic's remarkable late finish at the French Open on Saturday.

    Djokovic edged a five-set thriller with Lorenzo Musetti, battling into the early hours of Sunday in Paris at Roland-Garros.

    The third-round marathon finished at 3:08 a.m. local time in the French capital, shattering the tournament's previous latest finish of 1:25 a.m.

    After overcoming Elisabetta Cocciaretto to reach the quarter-finals, Gauff lamented the late start times and the problems it could cause for both men and women's players.

    "I feel like a lot of times people think you're done, but really at 3 a.m. [you're] probably not going to bed until 5 a.m. at the earliest, maybe 6 a.m. or 7 a.m.," said 2023 US Open women's champion Gauff.

    "I definitely think it's not healthy.

    "For the health and safety of the players, it would be in the sport's best interest to try to avoid those matches finishing or starting after a certain time."

    The ATP and WTA tours brought a new ruling in January that matches cannot start after 11 pm local time.

    That legislation does not apply to the four majors, though, and hits harder for the men playing best-of-five encounters.

    World number one Iga Swiatek, who overcame Anastasi Potapova on Sunday, echoed Gauff's sentiment.

    "It's not easy to play and it's not like we're going to fall asleep one hour after the match," said Swiatek.

    "[Change] is not up to us. We need to accept anything that is going to come to us."

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