Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz withstood a long opening set and a brief rally from American opponent Ben Shelton Sunday to earn a four-set victory and advance to the quarterfinals of the French Open in Paris.
The World No. 2 prevailed in a 7-6 (8) marathon in one hour and seven minutes in the first set, then took two of the next three (6-3, 4-6, 6-4) to close things out against the 13th seed.
“Today I fought against myself, against the mind,” Alcaraz said. “I just tried to calm myself. In some moments I was mad, I was angry with myself. Talking not really good things but I am really happy to not let those thoughts play against me. I tried to calm myself down and I tried to keep going. That is what I tried.”
To wit, the pair combined for 90 unforced errors, 43 of those coming from Alcaraz. But he also saved seven of nine break points and had 43 winners, notching 31 points at the net in the three-hour, 22-minute win.
“We have huge respect for each other,” Alcaraz said of Shelton. “We played really good tennis and entertained the fans. He is a really powerful player, he can make any shot. I think we played really great tennis. Coming to the net, drop shots, forehands. For me it is great having Ben around. I think it is great energy for the people and I love watching Ben play.”
The French Open’s defending champion is chasing his third win on clay this season, having previously won in Monte-Carlo and Rome.
Alcaraz will next face another American in No. 12 seed Tommy Paul, who raced to a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Australian No. 25 seed Alexei Popyrin.
By advancing in Paris, Paul became the only active American to reach the quarters of three of the four majors (Australian Open 2023, Wimbledon 2024), and per the ATP, just the ninth American to ever pull off the feat.
Previous quarterfinalists at three majors included Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Jimmy Connors, Jim Courier, Vitas Gerulaitis, Brian Gottfried, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras.
“I’m enjoying it a lot,” Paul said.
Despite enduring five aces by his opponent, Paul grabbed 27 winners and benefitted from 37 unforced errors by Popyrin. Paul was 9-for-10 on break points saved and 5-for-6 on break points converted, winning in a fast one hour and 52 minutes.
“It was nice to get a straight-sets win today, give the body a little rest,” Paul said. “I mean, as much as I love the five-setters, I definitely like the three-setters a little bit better. I am just excited for more matches.”
Paul became the first American to make the quarters at Roland Garros since Agassi in 2003. That drought was put to an even more emphatic end later in the day when No. 15 seed Frances Tiafoe also emerged with a win, defeating Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Tiafoe finished with 40 winners and had six aces without a double fault. Altmaier had three double faults and 33 unforced errors.
Tiafoe’s next opponent will be No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, who clawed past No. 10 seed Holger Rune of Denmark 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Rune piled up 50 winners but committed a whopping 55 unforced errors, 23 in the first set alone. Musetti went 6-for-8 in converting break points against Rune.
–Field Level Media
