Roland-Garros: Tsitsipas overcomes Altmaier in four sets to reach third round

Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 9 seed, advanced to the third round of Roland-Garros by edging out German Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4 on Wednesday.

Tsitsipas, ranked No 9, will face the winner of the match between Italian Lorenzo Sonego and China’s Zhizhen Zhang next.

This is the sixth year in a row that the Greek has reached the third round in Paris – with his best showing being a runner-up finish in 2021.

Ahead of his win today, the Greek defeated Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-1).

Altmaier, ranked No 83, outlasted Serbia’s Laslo Djere (7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 5-7, 7-6 (6)) in the previous round.

“I don’t get to play against single backhand guys too often, so it is like I am getting a taste of my own tennis,” Tsitsipas reflected. “It is very identical and a type of ID a single backhand player brings to the court. It can be very effective on court, opening up the court, creating much more topspin. It brings a different challenge playing single backhand guys. I don’t usually play against them.

“My brain operates in a different rotation, to come up with some good shots because they have the advantage of opening up the court more and hitting with extra topspin. This is something I had to deal with and find solutions. Today was great. I was down on the score and then I came back and I thought my tennis was really nice.”

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Paris (Grand Slam), other second-round matches (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53,478,000):

• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Mariano Navone vs. Tomas Machac
• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Alexander Bublik
• Alex De Minaur vs. Jaume Munar
• Flavio Cobolli vs. Holger Rune
• Karen Khachanov vs. Jozef Kovalik
• Luciano Darderi vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Alexander Zverev vs. David Goffin
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Casper Ruud
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Arthur Rinderknech
• Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Giulio Zeppieri
• Taylor Fritz vs. Dusan Lajovic
• Fabio Fognini vs. Tommy Paul
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Filip Misolic
• Gael Monfils vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Novak Djokovic vs. Roberto Carballes Baena
• Richard Gasquet vs. Jannik Sinner
• Pavel Kotov vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Corentin Moutet vs. Alexander Shevchenko
• Fabian Marozsan vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Andrey Rublev vs. Pedro Martinez
• Sebastian Ofner vs. Sebastian Baez
• Zizou Bergs vs. Maximilian Marterer
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Jesper De Jong vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Henri Squire vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Ben Shelton vs. Kei Nishikori
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Brandon Nakashima
• Sebastian Korda vs. SoonWoo Kwon
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Zhizhen Zhang
• Alexandre Muller vs. Matteo Arnaldi