Stefanos Tsitsipas found himself in a hole on Sunday at Roland Garros against Italian Matteo Arnaldi. But he dug his way out to reach the quarter-finals in Paris for the fourth time.
The Greek trailed Arnaldi 3-6, 3-5 and was being outplayed on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. However, he saved three set points on serve at 3-5 before he fended off another in the next game to break back for 5-5. The ninth seed then closed out the set and powered to a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-2 victory.
"I had to push today. It was one of the craziest comebacks I have had," Tsitsipas said. "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."
The 23-year-old Arnaldi dictated during the early stages in Paris, where he struck a heavy ball off both wings and frustrated Tsitsipas with his elastic defence. Yet the 25-year-old stuck to his task and after clawing himself level, improved in the third and fourth sets, while Arnaldi’s level and intensity drastically dropped.
With his 28th tour-level win of the season, Tsitsipas set a quarter-final meeting with third seed Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard Alcaraz defeated Tsitsipas in the quarter-final stage in Paris last season.
STEF COMES OUT VICTORIOUS 🙌@steftsitsipas comes from a set down to defeat Arnaldi 3-7 7-6 6-2 6-2 and reaches the QFs!@rolandgarros | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/vlN7ZZDl09
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 2, 2024
Tsitsipas has produced his best tennis on clay. He has won three Monte-Carlo titles on the surface and advanced to the title match at Roland Garros in 2021, when he led Novak Djokovic by two sets before losing. The No. 9 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, who is into his eighth major quarter-final, is chasing his first major crown this fortnight.
The former Nitto ATP Finals champion Tsitsipas fired 63 winners and committed 35 unforced errors against Arnaldi according to Infosys Stats in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. The 11-time tour-level titlist has dropped just two sets en route to the last eight in the French capital.
Arnaldi upset World No. 6 Andrey Rublev in the third round to reach the last 16 at a major for the second time (US Open 2023). The World No. 35 was impressive in the first 90 minutes against Tsitsipas but faded quickly, with the Greek pouncing on Arnaldi’s lack of depth in the third and fourth sets to advance after three hours and 11 minutes.
© Copyright 1994 - 2024 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies
