Roland-Garros: Raging Rublev goes out in straight sets to Arnaldi

Italian Matteo Arnaldi defeated Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 6 seed, 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the last 16 of Roland-Garros at Roland-Garros in Paris on Friday.

Arnaldi, ranked No 35, will play the winner of the match between Chinese Zhizhen Zhang and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 9 seed, next.

Ahead of his victory, the Italian won against Frenchman Arthur Fils, the No 29 seed (6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2) and French wildcard Alexandre Muller (6-4, 6-1, 6-3).

A delighted Arnaldi – who hit 47 winners compared to 19 unforced errors – thanked the crowd for their support, and said in his on-court interview: “I think I played the best tennis of my life.”

Rublev’s on-court anger

But despite it being a notable win for the young Italian, winning for the first time at a Grand Slam against a player ranked in the Top 10, it will be remembered primarily for his opponent’s histrionics.

Rublev had repeatedly demonstrated his anger throughout the match, smashing racquets, even hitting his own legs at one point, and kicking a bench. Clearly distressed by the end, he looked almost tearful by the final game, and Arnaldi put a consoling arm around him at the net as they shook hands.

Rublev has had issues with on-court tantrums previously, but had acknowledged only a few weeks ago in Madrid that he had been warned many times that he needed to be more calm if he wanted to enjoy more consistent success.

Rublev, ranked No 6, edged out Japanese Taro Daniel (6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5) and won against Spaniard Pedro Martinez (6-3, 6-4, 6-3) in the previous rounds of Roland-Garros 2024.

You might also like this

“I didn’t even have enough energy to complain” – Andrey Rublev

tennis majors

“I’ve had a lot of warnings to be more calm” – Rublev reaping rewards of lessons learnt from past outbursts

tennis majors

“It’s the same thing as with Nadal!” Furious Rublev argues with umpire

tennis majors

Paris (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53.478.000, most recent results first):

• Novak Djokovic vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Casper Ruud
• Taylor Fritz vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Tommy Paul
• Jozef Kovalik vs. Holger Rune
• Tomas Machac vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Alex De Minaur vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Sebastian Korda vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Ben Shelton vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Corentin Moutet vs. Sebastian Ofner
• Zizou Bergs vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Pavel Kotov vs. Jannik Sinner: friday