French Open
Sinner and Alcaraz make it to the round of 16
The Italian Jannik Sinner beat the Russian Kotow 6:4, 6:4, 6:4. Photo
© Christophe Ena/AP/dpa
The Italian and the Spaniard confidently complete their mandatory task at the French Open. Iga Swiatek celebrates victory and her birthday. Another tennis star, however, is eliminated and behaves inappropriately.
The tournament co-favourites Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have French Open in Paris, he easily reached the round of 16. The 22-year-old Sinner won his third-round match on Court Philippe Chatrier against Russian Pavel Kotov 6:4, 6:4, 6:4.
For the Australian Open winner, who only returned from a hip injury shortly before the start of the tournament, it was the tenth victory in a row on the Grand Slam stage. If Sinner reaches the final, he will be the first Italian player to be number one in the tennis world, regardless of the performance of the current Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic.
World number three Alcaraz followed suit in the evening, defeating US-American Sebastian Korda 6:4, 7:6 (7:5), 6:3. The 21-year-old Spaniard had also been out for weeks before the start of the tournament due to elbow problems.
In the women’s event, defending champion Iga Swiatek appeared to have recovered well from her second-round thriller against Japan’s Naomi Osaka. The Polish world number one beat Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic 6:4, 6:2 – and was then serenaded by the audience on her 23rd birthday.
Rublev loses and freaks out
Another top player, however, was eliminated – and showed his bad side, and not only in sporting terms. World number six Andrey Rublev from Russia slammed his racket to the ground several times out of frustration during his 6:7 (6:8), 2:6, 4:6 defeat to the Italian Matteo Arnaldi. He shouted at the members of his box and angrily kicked his bench three times with his left foot after losing the second set. This was met with boos from the spectators on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
“The fact that he presented himself in such a state is simply negligent,” said former tennis pro Carl-Uwe Steeb on Eurosport: “Rublev has to look at himself in the mirror and see why he lost.” Rublev admitted afterwards: “It was very bad behavior in front of me.”
In the women’s event, Serbian Olga Danilovic managed the feat of winning her third round match against Croatian Donna Vekic 10:8 in the match tiebreak of the third set after a 0:6 defeat in the first set. She ultimately won 0:6, 7:5, 7:6 (10:8).