Paris (AFP) – Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas are on course for a repeat of last year’s French Open quarter-finals, with Iga Swiatek aiming for a third consecutive Roland Garros title.
Alcaraz is at least in contention to make the last eight on the trot for the third straight year as he moves through the gears in Paris, taking care of 21st seed Felix Auger-Aliassi.
After that, Tsitsipas has won all five previous meetings with opponents who have dominated his young career. Three of those came on clay, including Alcaraz’s straight-sets win in the 2023 French Open quarterfinals.
“I’m really looking forward to playing this match. I like challenges and matches like this,” said the 21-year-old Spaniard, who wants to add to his Wimbledon title a year ago and the 2022 US Open title.
“I have seen a lot of matches from Stefanos lately. He has a lot of confidence now and he plays great tennis. I think I have a key against him, so I will give him a hard time.”
Tsitsipas faced Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the last 16 with Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in danger from two sets down, saving four sets before turning the match in his favour.
The Greek ninth seed, who lost to Novak Djokovic in five sets in the 2021 French Open final, will be hoping to end Alcaraz’s dominance. “He said he liked playing against me in the past, so I hope he likes it more this time,” Tsitsipas said.
Jannik Dosa dropped the first set of the tournament to Corentin Moutet, but the second seed quickly righted the ship to reach his seventh Grand Slam quarter-final.
After the 2020 edition was postponed by the pandemic, he made the last eight at Roland Garros for the first time, losing to Rafael Nadal in a match that ended at 1:26 a.m.
This was Djokovic’s last record at the French Open before losing to Lorenzo Musetti in 3:07 on Sunday morning.
Sinner plays Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov, who reached his first Roland Garros quarter-final on his 14th visit.
Swiatek’s ‘bagel world’
Swiatek reached the last eight after beating Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0 in 40 minutes, the fastest match of Paul’s 23-year-old career.
“This world is like this garden. This is something about Iga. Just give it to him,” said Aryna Sabalenka, who appeared as Swiatek’s leading candidate.
World number one Swiatek is aiming to surpass Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrosova in 19 matches in Paris.
US Open champion and third seed Coco Gauff continues an untested second week but will face a tougher challenge than three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur.
Jabeur, the eighth seed from Tunisia, has won several matches in just one tournament this season – reaching the quarters in Madrid before arriving in the French capital.
It’s really nice,” said Jabeur, who was defeated by Gauff in straight sets in the last 16 of the 2021 French Open.
