Paris (AFP)
German Alexander Zverev, 7th in the world and recent US Open finalist, was eliminated Sunday in the round of 16 at Roland Garros by the young Italian Jannick Sinner (75th) 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
At 19, Sinner reached for the first time the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament and there he will face the king of Roland-Garros Rafael Nadal.
So far, his best result in Major was the second round reached in January at the Australian Open.
His two other Grand Slam main draw appearances ended in first-round eliminations, in 2019 and 2020 at the US Open.
For his part, Zverev had reached the quarters in Paris during the two previous editions.
"It was hard ... We sometimes train together in Monaco so we know each other. I knew it would be a long and difficult game," Sinner commented after 3:01 of the fight.
As usual, the Italian hit hard (39 winning shots for 56 unforced errors).
He also kept pace with Zverev: the longer the exchanges were, the more he won (38 to 20 on exchanges of 9 or more moves).
But he did not hesitate to go up to the net, where he was not awkward (21 points gained from 29 climbs), and was solid in his head.
"Even in the third set, I didn't play badly. And I tried to stay focused after losing it," he explained.
Result: he is the first player to reach the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros in his very first participation since Nadal in 2005. The Spaniard went as far as to win the title.
The Italian is also the youngest to reach the quarterfinals of a Major since Novak Djokovic, already in Paris, in 2006.
© 2020 AFP