French Open: Carlos Alcaraz wins in 4 1/2-hour marathon
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz stretches to return the ball to Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas during their men’s singles match on day four of the Roland-Garros Open tennis tournament at the Court Simonne-Mathieu in Paris on May 25, 2022. (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP)
Teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz of Spain outlasted countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas in a match that lasted more than 4 ½ hours on Wednesday at the French Open in Paris.
The sixth-seeded Alcaraz, 19, took the match 6-1, 6-7 (7), 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in four hours, 34 minutes on the clay at Roland Garros. Alcaraz finished with 74 winners and 74 unforced errors. Alcaraz converted just eight of 31 break-point opportunities.
Article continues after this advertisement“I feel tired but it has been a great battle against Albert,” Alcaraz said. “I knew it was going to be a great match, a tough match. We both fought until the last point. I’m so happy with the performance today.
“I feel like being at home. … The support from the beginning until the last ball was unbelievable. It wouldn’t have been possible to win the match without (the crowd) support from the beginning.”
Alcaraz made German Alexander Zverev’s victory in three hours, 36 minutes seem brisk.
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The third-seeded Zverev won his match 2-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-5, saving match point in the final set against 21-year-old Sebastian Baez of Argentina.
“This is the worst he (Baez) will probably ever feel on a tennis court right now, this moment,” Zverev said. “It was such an incredible match, and I know it just too well because I lost the U.S. Open final from being two sets to love up. You always get better from it and I wish him nothing but the best. He’s an unbelievably great kid, and he’s going to do a lot of great things in this sport, I think.”
Zverev finished with 12 aces.
No. 15 seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina was also in a marathon, needing to rally from two sets down to defeat Spain’s Jaume Munar 2-6, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in nearly four hours.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and No. 5 Rafael Nadal were also winners in straight sets.
Djokovic defeated Slovakian Alex Molcan 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to advance. Nadal beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 for the 300th career Grand Slam match win. Nadal joined Roger Federer and Djokovic as the only men to reach the milestone.
Ninth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime won in straight sets, as did No. 10 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain.
No. 13 Taylor Fritz fell to Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 3-6.
Other seeded players to win and advance Wednesday included Americans No. 27 Sebastian Korda and No. 23 John Isner, No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, and No. 26 Botic Van De Zandschulp of Netherlands.
