Alcaraz and Tsitsipas set up French Open quarter-final

Spanish third seed Carlos Alcaraz made another statement by beating Félix Auger-Aliassime to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.

Alcaraz, 21, won 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 against the 21st-ranked Canadian on a rare rainless day in Paris.

The reigning Wimbledon champion will face ninth seed Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals.

“I’m very happy with today’s performance, I think I played a really high level of tennis,” Alcaraz said.

“I’m happy with my serve, my shots and my movement on the court.”

Tsitsipas, seeking his first major title, came back to beat Italian world number 35 Matteo Arnaldi 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov beat eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) and will face Italian second seed Jannik Sinner or Frenchman Corentin Moutet, in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. .

Dimitrov, seeded tenth, was playing less than 24 hours after beating Zizou Bergs in the third round, a match that had lasted three hours and 38 minutes.

Alcaraz is aiming for his first French Open title, having won the US Open and Wimbledon.

But his preparations were hampered by a forearm injury which led to the main clay court competition.

He arrived in Paris just one run away from the Madrid Open quarterfinals on clay and admitted earlier in the tournament that he was still in pain.

After outpointing Sebastian Korda in the third round, he said he felt more like himself, and he showed that when he beat 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime on Court Philippe Chatrier.

“I didn’t come here with a lot of pace but I believe in myself. After every training session and every game I’m improving,” added Alcaraz, who reached the semifinals last year.

Auger-Aliassime needed treatment for what appeared to be a muscle problem early in the second set and struggled with his serve for the rest of the match.

With Auger-Aliassime vulnerable, Alcaraz broke twice on his way to a 5-0 lead in the third set and cruised to victory shortly after Tsitsipas did the same on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Arnaldi had shocked Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev in the previous round and led by a set and a break as he looked to take another notable scalp.

Tsitsipas, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 final at Roland Garros, had to pay for not converting any of the five break points in the first set and another three in the second.

However, he showed courage to save four set points at 5-3 and 5-4 and was finally rewarded by breaking Arnaldi’s serve in the tenth game.

After winning the tie-break and breaking in the first game of the third set, Tsitsipas remained in complete control and broke three more times to take the victory.