Jannik Sinner wasted two match points as he was knocked out of the French Open 6-7(0) 7-6(7) 1-6 7-6(4) 7-5 in a second round thriller against German Daniel Altmaier on Thursday.
The red-haired Italian, who is often cheered on by six fans dressed as carrots - the Carota boys - and was spotted eating carrots as an on-court snack in Vienna, was not his dominant self as he bowed out after five hours 26 minutes.
Eighth-seeded Sinner, whose best performance at Roland Garros came in 2020 when he lost in the quarter-finals against Rafael Nadal, looked set for a no-nonsense win after cruising through the third set but Altmaier had other ideas.
While Sinner’s hard-hitting approach works on hard courts, he struggles on the slowest surface, which proves more challenging, and he was eventually worn down by the world number 79, who won on his fifth match point on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
After an exchange of breaks, the first set was decided in a tiebreak in which Sinner won all the points.
The second set was a carbon copy of the first until the tiebreak, which Altmaier dominated, winning most of the long rallies.
It looked like the Italian would hop into the next round as he blazed through the third set, but he paid for his efforts in the fourth, finding himself trailing 3-0. He rallied back, however, and broke for 5-4.
Sinner then wasted two match points - one when Altmaier’s passing shot clipped the net and took him by surprise - as the German stole his serve again to send the match into a decider.
Altmaier, who reached the quarter-finals in Madrid this year and the last 16 at Roland Garros in 2020, served twice for the match, eventually shaking off his nerves to end it with an ace.
He went back to his chair as tears rolled down his cheeks before saying: “I love the game of tennis. In the past months, me, my team, we put so much effort all together.
“We play here but behind us we have strong teams, that’s why this victory is a team effort.”
Last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud turned on the style at the French Open before the fourth seed showed steel to quell Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 6-3 6-2 4-6 7-5 and move into the third round on Thursday.
The Norwegian brought a touch of flair to Court Philippe Chatrier in classy blue pinstriped shorts and barely fluffed his lines early on, forcing an inexperienced Zeppieri into a corner by badgering him from the baseline.
Ruud’s performance on clay this year has ebbed and flowed but the Estoril champion made quick work of the first set under the Parisian sun after being gifted the decisive break when Zeppieri blasted a forehand long.
The world number four raced through the next set to double his advantage as the left-handed Zeppieri sprayed the errors in a nervy display before regaining composure to peg Ruud back.
“In a normal match I would have won 6-3 6-2, but here you have the chance to fight like he did,” Ruud said on court.
“He played much better in the third set and the fourth set and it became very tough.”
Ruud’s superb court coverage ensured he broke for a 3-2 lead in the fourth set but Zeppieri struck back to level at 5-5 with a fiery inside-out winner, only to surrender serve immediately and allow Ruud to close out the victory.
Ruud, who lost to Rafa Nadal in the 2022 title clash, will next face Argentine qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante or China’s Zhizhen Zhang and the 24-year-old said he was looking forward to recharging his batteries.
“Days off are nice, obviously, you try to relax as much as you can, especially at night,” Ruud told reporters.
“I like to disconnect with a movie during the evening. I spend some hours in bed watching movies during Grand Slams. I think it’s nice and fun just to disconnect from everything.
“Whenever I get to the site and on the court, it’s all business.”
Reuters
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