It was business as usual for some of the biggest tennis stars of the game at the French Open on Day 5, sans Jannik Sinner, who fell to World No. 79 Daniel Altmaier in what ended as a five-hour marathon match on Thursday, June 1.
The likes of Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Casper Ruud shone, as they moved to the second round, while 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva's dream run continued as well.
Casper Ruud returns in style, Iga Swiatek continues title defence
Casper Ruud defeated Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. After dropping the third set against the 21-year-old, the World No. 4 was bounced back in style to seal an easy win.
In the women's singles event, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek took complete control of her match-up against USA's Claire Liu. She outclassed her opponent 6-4, 6-0 to storm into the third round. It was her 30th win of the year, sealing the victory in an hour and 29 minutes as she surpassed the legendary Steffi Graf (10.7%) in terms of the percentage of sets in women's singles Grand Slams won with a 6-0 scoreline, at 11.1%.
Battle of teens as Coco Gauff faces Mirra Andreeva
Meanwhile, French Open 2022 finalist Coco Gauff outclassed Austria's Julia Grabher in straight sets to move into Round 3. She will now face the challenge of 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who became the youngest woman to reach the third round at Roland Garros since 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva made the quarter-finals in 2005.
Mirra has not yet dropped a set in five matches, having entered the main draw through qualifying. The 16-year-old has an incredible 22-2 win-loss record in 2022.
Jannik Sinner shocked by Daniel Altmaier
However, the biggest shock of the day was when 24-year-old Daniel Altmaier stunned 8th seed Jannik Sinner in their men's singles second-round match. Chasing his best-ever Grand Slam showing from 2020, he was the hero in a match that lasted 5 hours and 26 minutes.
Altmaier held his nerves and played one of the best defensive games of the tournament to Sinner back home after a 6-7(0), 7-6(7), 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 winner. Altmaier saved two match points when Sinner was serving for the match at 5-4 in the 4th set.
Other results
World No. 7 Ons Jabeur beat France's Oceane Dodin 6-2, 6-3 to move to the round of 32 in the French Open. In another match,
4th seed Elene Rybakina came up with a dominant show to clinch a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Czech teenager Linda Noskova, while Alexander Zverev eased into round three by defeating Slovakian Alex Molcan 6-4 6-2 6-1 and Taylor Fritz advanced to the third round at Roland-Garros by defeating Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
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