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PARIS. — Greek ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas lost the opening set but went on to defeat Italian Matteo Arnaldi 3-6 7-6(4) 6-2 6-2 in the fourth round of the French Open yesterday.
Tsitsipas keeps alive his bid to win his first Grand Slam title, but the 2021 Roland Garros finalist was put to the test early on by Arnaldi who had ousted sixth seed Andrey Rublev in the previous round.
Arnaldi began strongly, despite needing to save three break points in the opening game, and made the decisive break to lead 3-1 and comfortably saw out the first set, as Tsitsipas was unable to handle the Italian’s energy.
Tsitsipas looked in even more trouble in the second set when the Italian broke to lead 3-2, but Arnaldi then failed to take advantage when serving for the set. Tsitsipas broke and came out on top in the tiebreak to level the match.
The Greek took his renewed confidence into the third set and broke in the first game. Arnaldi began to struggle and Tsitsipas broke once more, and two further breaks in the fourth set put an end to the Italian’s challenge. — Reuters.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu