Gaston stuns Wawrinka, Sinner and Korda also lead youth movement

American qualifier Sebastian Korda eases past Pedro Martinez in straight sets on Friday at Roland-Garros. Korda is joined in the last 16 by Dominic Thiem, who made similarly quick work of Casper Ruud.

Roland-Garros (H) : Gaston s’offre Wawrinka

Ricky Dimon

October 2, 2020

The results we expected

US Open champion and No 3 seed Dominic Thiem destroyed Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the fourth round.

“I think that he was playing well from beginning to the end, basically,” Thiem said when asked about his 3-1 deficit early in the first set. “I really raised my level. Maybe the first four games were not as good as the rest of the match by me, but he’s a really good player — especially on clay, probably one of the best of the season. I guess if we give him one more year, then he’s going to be super dangerous.

“Here in Roland Garros I think that also the wet, slow conditions suited me a little bit more than him. But in general I was super happy with my performance. I think was one of the best ones this year.”

Thiem is joined in the last 16 by Jannik Sinner, who got the best of Federico Coria 6-3, 7-5, 7-5. Sinner awaits US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev in the next round, as the German took down former Roland-Garros semifinalist and wildcard Marco Cecchinato in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3.

No 12 seed Diego Schwartzman also made it through with ease, defeating Slovakian Norbert Gombos in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-3.

The surprises of the day

Either Sebastian Korda or Pedro Martinez was also going to be a surprise entrant into the last 16 at Roland-Garros. It turned out to be Korda, who crushed Martinez 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 59 minutes. The 20-year-old American, son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda, qualified for the main draw and then ousted Andreas Seppi and John Isner prior to Friday’s result.

Sebastian Korda is the first ever man born in the 2000s to reach the 2nd week at #RolandGarros.

Beats Martínez 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 and will face Nadal or Travaglia now.

Genes are decent and the kid is very good. pic.twitter.com/9Sl55DrCIE

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 2, 2020

Korda became the first-ever man born in the 2000s to reach the fourth round at Roland-Garros, but he wasn’t the only one for long. French wild card Hugo Gaston joined him there by stunning Stan Wawrinka 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. Thus continues a shocking run for the 20-year-old, who had never won a match at the main-tour level prior to this fortnight.

The hard-fought battles of the day

The Lorenzo Sonego vs. Taylor Fritz match lasted only three sets, but it was hardly routine. In fact, Sonego needed three hours and seven minutes to get the job done — only three minutes shorter than the five-setter between Gaston and Wawrinka. The Italian survived a 36-point third-set tiebreaker to defeat the 27th-seeded American 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-6(17).