By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp
Men's tennis world no. 6 Andrey Rublev failed in the third round of the 2024 Roland Garros (French Open) on Friday, while world no. 2 Jannik Sinner reached the fourth round in the competition.
Italian Matteo Arnaldi eliminated Rublev with sets 7-6(8-6), 6-2, and 6-4.
"It's incredible. I think I played the best tennis for sure of my life, I'd say, because to do it for three sets — it's easy to do in two sets in a normal tournament, but in a slam playing three sets this level, I think I wasn't even expecting," the Italian player said after eliminating his Russian opponent.
A furious Rublev lost his temper during the second set after an argument with the umpire over a line call, smashed his racket to the ground and kicked his seat. And in the third set, he hit his own knee repeatedly with the butt of his racket.
"For sure he didn't play his best tennis, but I used the right tactic to put him under pressure and today it worked very well," he added.
Sinner, on the other hand, passed another Russian player, Pavel Kotol, with all 6-4 straight sets.
In the fourth round, Sinner will face the winner of the Corentin Moutet-Sebastian Ofner match, while Arnaldi will take on the winner of the Zhizhen Zhang-Stefanos Tsitsipas match.