Alcaraz continues building in Paris with Korda win

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the No 3 seed, defeated American Sebastian Korda, the No 27 seed, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the last 16 of Roland-Garros in Paris on Friday evening.

The two hour, 40 minute match was a tight affair over the first two sets, until Alcaraz accelerated to the finish line in the third.

Beginning with twin breaks, the opening set went to 4-4 before Alcaraz gained the upper hand. A second break was all he required this time, serving out the set to love to claim a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second set, the Spaniard extracted another early break, this time in the third game. Korda was playing catch up, but that he did, leveling the clash at 3-3 in the sixth game of the set. A tiebreak ensued, with Korda coming oh-so-close to taking the set at 4-4, before Alcaraz stepped up and won the breaker 7-5.

The tight margin of the second set took some of the fight out of Korda, with Alcaraz marching home 6-3 in the deciding set to book his spot in the round of 16.

Korda a challenge, but Alcaraz supremely confident

After the victory, Alcaraz shared on court just how challenging the match was for him.

“Sebastian is a great player, really good ball striker. He hits the ball really clearly,” began Alcaraz. “It’s difficult to play against him, I had to run a lot, side to side. It was like a marathon for me today.”

However, the third seed let the Philippe-Chatrier crowd in on a secret, one which will be concerning for his opponents to come here in Paris.

“But I wasn’t worried at all. I know what I’m capable of, my skills,” the Spaniard declared with confidence. “I know that it is really difficult for him as well.”

Alcaraz, ranked No 3, will face the winner of the match between American Ben Shelton, the No 15 seed, and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 21 seed, next.

Earlier in the tournament, the 21-year-old Spaniard won against American lucky loser J.J. Wolf (6-1, 6-2, 6-1) and Dutch qualifier Jesper De Jong (6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2).

Korda, ranked No 28, won against French wildcard Harold Mayot (6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-4) and SoonWoo Kwon (6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3) in the previous rounds of the Roland-Garros 2024.

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

• Novak Djokovic vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Taylor Fritz vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Casper Ruud
• Jozef Kovalik vs. Holger Rune
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Tommy Paul
• Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Tomas Machac vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Zizou Bergs vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Ben Shelton vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Alex De Minaur vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Corentin Moutet vs. Sebastian Ofner: friday
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (9) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
• Jannik Sinner (2) beat Pavel Kotov: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Andrey Rublev (6): 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4