Roland-Garros: Fritz overcomes slow start to defeat home favourite Rinderknech

American Taylor Fritz, the No 9 seed, reached the third round of Roland-Garros by overcoming Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 at Stade Roland-Garros in Paris on Thursday evening.

The match occurred much later than many expected it would, courtesy of a five hour, 26 minute match between Jannik Sinner and Daniel Altmaier earlier in the day, and proved a challenge for Fritz in front of a raucous French crowd.

Fritz dropped the opening set 6-2, with the No 9 seed only landing 38% of his first serves, compared to Rindernech’s 71%. While the American continued to have an off service day, making only 47% of his first serves for the match, he managed to improve his numbers enough to take the next three sets comfortably.

Across the match, Fritz was the much tidier player in terms of errors, hitting only 25 unforced errors to Rinderknech’s 38. While the Frenchman hit more winners, Fritz was not far behind at 45 to 41 in this department.

Next up, the 25-year-old will face in-form Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, the No 23 seed. Cerundolo made quick work of the dangerous Yannick Hanfmann in his second-round match, defeating the German 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

With Fritz having never made it past the third-round at Roland-Garros before, the American will be determined to make a deep run in 2023. The world No 8 has an excellent opportunity, sitting in a bottom half of the Roland-Garros draw that has been turned on its head by upsets to No 8 seed Jannick Sinner and No 2 seed Daniil Medvedev.

Paris (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 49.600.000, most recent results first):

• Alexander Zverev (22) beat Alex Molcan: 6-4, 6-2, 6-1
• Holger Rune vs. Gael Monfils
• Francisco Cerundolo beat Yannick Hanfmann (LL): 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
• Marcos Giron beat Jiri Lehecka: 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
• Nicolas Jarry beat Tommy Paul (16): 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5
• Genaro Alberto Olivieri (Q) beat Andrea Vavassori (Q): 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Frances Tiafoe (12) beat Aslan Karatsev (Q): 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2
• Zhizhen Zhang beat Thiago Agustin Tirante: 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4
• Thiago Seyboth Wild (Q) beat Guido Pella: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Grigor Dimitrov (28) beat Emil Ruusuvuori: 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-4
• Yoshihito Nishioka (27) beat Max Purcell: 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
• Daniel Altmaier beat Jannik Sinner (8): 6-7, 7-6 (7), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5
• Casper Ruud (4) beat Giulio Zeppieri (Q): 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Alex De Minaur (18): 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Borna Coric (15) beat Pedro Cachin: 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Novak Djokovic (3) beat Marton Fucsovics: 7-6 (2), 6-0, 6-3
• Lorenzo Musetti (17) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-1, 6-1, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (7) beat Corentin Moutet: 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (29) beat Luca Van Assche: 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Cameron Norrie (14) beat Lucas Pouille (Q): 6-1, 6-3, 6-3
• Hubert Hurkacz (13) beat Tallon Griekspoor: 6-3, 5-7, 6-7 (13), 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Karen Khachanov (11) beat Radu Albot (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) beat Taro Daniel: 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
• Juan Pablo Varillas beat Roberto Bautista Agut (19): 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1
• Denis Shapovalov (26) beat Matteo Arnaldi: 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Diego Schwartzman beat Nuno Borges: 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-3
• Thanasi Kokkinakis (WC) beat Stan Wawrinka: 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3
• Lorenzo Sonego beat Ugo Humbert: 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Fabio Fognini beat Jason Kubler: 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (5) beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2
• Sebastian Ofner (Q) beat Sebastian Korda (24): 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-4

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