Alexander Zverev, former 2e world player, today 27econtinued his revival at Roland-Garros by qualifying for the quarter-finals at the expense of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (29e), outplayed 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 on Monday night.
For a place in the last four, Zverev will face the unexpected Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry (49e), scorer 7-6 (10/8), 6-0, 6-1 from Japanese southpaw Yoshihito Nishioka (33e), physically diminished.
This 2023 edition resembles that of the rebirth for Zverev. Here is the 26-year-old German in the quarter-finals having dropped only one set on clay in Paris, a year after leaving the central field leaning on crutches after seriously twisting his right ankle in full semi-final against Rafael Nadal. This injury had kept him out for the rest of the 2022 season.
“It’s extraordinary that I’m playing the way I’m playing at the moment, I’m very happy about it, I’m back in the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros, it’s incredible for me”, said he rejoiced.
“I hope more great things are to come, now that I’m here I don’t want to leave,” added 2020 US Open runner-up Zverev.
It is the first time since his return to the circuit at the start of 2023 that Zverev has won four matches in a row in a tournament, the Grand Slam moreover.
As a regular in the evening session – this is his third game in a row scheduled for the evening – the great German has tamed the decidedly very windy conditions since the start of the Paris fortnight and his opponent in just over two and a quarter hours.
Apart from two setbacks, when he trailed 4 games to 2 in the second set and then when Dimitrov came back from 3-0 down to 3-3 in the third, Zverev was largely in control of the game.
At 23, Etcheverry will play his very first Grand Slam quarter-final. There had never been past the second round until then.
Rune and Haddad in the quarter-finals
It was hard for Holger Rune and Beatriz Haddad on Monday at Roland-Garros, but the Danish prodigy and the unexpected Brazilian won their ticket to the quarter-finals.
Rune won against Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (23e) 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10/7) after 3:59 of a fierce fight, during which he committed many unforced errors ( 73 overall) and appeared to be in physical difficulty to the point of being given medicine by the doctor midway through the fourth set.
There was also a refereeing error that allowed him to win a point when he had played a ball after the second rebound, which the referee did not see.
“I feel sorry for him [Cerundolo]. After this incident, I managed the break, “commented the Dane, explaining that he played the ball without realizing at the time that it had doubled, but recognizing a posteriori and having seen the images that the ball had actually made two rebounds.
Last year, for his first appearance at Roland-Garros, he reached the quarters, his best result to date in a Grand Slam. But this year, at 20, he has changed his status and presents himself as one of the main rivals against the big favorites Carlos Alcaraz (noh 1 in the world) and Novak Djokovic (3e).
In a quarter of Vikings, Rune the Dane will face Casper Ruud the Norwegian on Wednesday, the same one who eliminated him last year.
The noh 4 in the world and finalist last year fought three sets and 3:20 to overcome the Chilean Nicolas Jarry (35th) 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 7-5.
“It was three very, very difficult sets… How long would it have been if we had gone to the fifth set? wondered the 24-year-old Norwegian, while specifying that he was “ready if it had been necessary to play more”.
Haddad nervous like Djoko
In the women’s draw, Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad took time, but qualified for her first-ever quarter-final of a Grand Slam tournament by winning the third longest women’s match in French Open history. .
“I’m very happy and proud that I didn’t give up and I think for that I deserve this victory,” said Haddad (14e) after beating Spaniard Sara Sorribes (132nd) 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-5 in 3:51.
The longest women’s match at Roland Garros lasted 4:07 and was won by Frenchwoman Virginie Buisson against compatriot Noëlle van Lottum in the first round in 1995.
“The key was to play all the points, regardless of the score. I told myself that if I was nervous, my opponent was too. And then Novak Djokovic said he too was nervous at times. So if he is, who am I not to be nervous? Haddad commented.
She thus becomes the first Brazilian to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament since Maria Bueno, in 1968 already in Paris.
She will face Wednesday Ons Jabeur (7e) who on the contrary very quietly got rid of the American Bernarda Pera (36e) 6-3, 6-1 in 1:03.
Wimbledon and US Open finalist last year, the 28-year-old Tunisian had never made it past the round of 16 in Paris.
“It was the only Grand Slam quarterback I missed,” said Jabeur, who in 2020 became the first Arab player to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament in Australia.
The other quarter from the top of the board will oppose the noh 1 and Polish defending champion Iga Swiatek, who benefited from the retirement of Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (66e), American Coco Gauff (6e), in a rematch of last year’s finals.