Jan-Lennard Struff did not let himself be stopped by the Spanish top talent Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open and reached the second round of the last sixteen at the clay court classic in Paris for the second time since 2019.
The 31-year-old Warsteiner won on Saturday against the 18-year-old Alcaraz 6: 4, 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 2 and thus followed Alexander Zverev into the fourth round.
The German number one had clearly won in three sets against the Serbian Laslo Djere on Friday.
Struff will meet number ten seed Diego Schwartzman in the round of 16 on Monday.
The Argentine had previously won against the German tennis veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber with 6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 1.
In the night session in the evening, Dominik Koepfer still has the chance to make it to the round of 16.
The 27-year-old gets to do with Roger Federer from Switzerland in the evening (around 9 p.m. at Eurosport).
Against Alcaraz, in which many experts already see the new Rafael Nadal, Struff seamlessly continued his strong performance in Paris.
The German number two determined the event for a long time at will and got the first set 6: 4.
In the second set, too, Struff was quickly one break ahead.
After that, Alcaraz improved, while Struff lost a bit of the rhythm.
Kohlschreiber clearly loses
At 5: 6 he even had to fend off a set ball from the Spaniard, but then got the second round in the tie-break.
This broke Alcaraz's resistance.
Struff dominated again with his powerful game and used his fourth match point after 2:16 hours.
Kohlschreiber, on the other hand, clearly missed the last sixteen.
The 37-year-old from Augsburg has never been able to build on his previous good performances at the Stade Roland Garros.
“It was actually a good first sentence.
But then I got problems with the adductors on both sides and could no longer play with the necessary energy and power, ”said Kohlschreiber, disappointed.
Nevertheless, he was able to start the journey home satisfied, having finally won two games in a row after a long time. “At the moment I'm not looking forward to the tournament, the defeat hurts. But tomorrow on the drive home the joy will come, ”said Kohlschreiber.
The veteran was only able to open the game against Schwartzman at the very beginning. But to make it 2: 3, he received an early break and gave up the first set after 44 minutes. Schwartzman, who was in the semi-finals in Paris last year, also quickly pulled away in the second round and secured the set 6: 2. Kohlschreiber then went to the cabin for treatment and complained of adductor problems. Although he tried everything again afterwards, it was no longer enough for a turnaround and the first round of 16 in Paris in eight years.
Novak Djokovic hurries safely from victory to victory. The world number one from Serbia defeated the Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 6: 1, 6: 4, 6: 1 in his third round match and is in the second round. There the 34-year-old meets the 15-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who caused a sensation on his Grand Slam debut. Djokovic remains in the tournament without losing a set and is determined to attack the 13-time Paris winner Rafael Nadal. With a triumph, the Serb would also catch up with Nadal and Federer in the ranking of the Grand Slam winners. Djokovic has 18 major titles, his two permanent rivals have two more.
In the women's category, the next title candidate was eliminated in the first week. Number five seeded Jelina Switolina from Ukraine clearly lost her third-round game against Czech Barbora Krejcikova 3: 6, 2: 6. This means that four of the five top-seeded players are no longer part of the second Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season. Before Switolina, Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka had already been hit, Naomi Osaka had withdrawn.