BEVERLY HILLS, October 05, (THEWILL) – There were zero matchups between seeded players in the women’s draw in this round of the competition and only two in the men’s draw. This is thanks to the upsets that have been recorded throughout the duration of the early rounds. Today, both of those seeded men’s draw took place and it was exciting tennis all round.
THEWILL serves the updates below.
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The highlight of the day’s schedule was the battle between World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 15 Karen Khachanov. Djokovic was seeking his 11th straight quarterfinal berth in Paris. In the exchanges that followed and long rallies that ended with excellent shots, each player showcased his ability on the clay surface. The top-seeded Serbian still got the points when they mattered most but credit to Khachanov for not folding. The Russian fought his way back in the third set, winning three straight games before getting two break opportunities to go up 4-2. But, Djokovic held serve in the first of four straight games to close the third set 6-3. It might have finished in three sets but THEWILL holds that the score line does not indicate how close a game it was.
In the other seeded draw, a tie between No. 5 Stefan Tsitsipas and No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov, there was another straight sets victory for the Greek Tsitsipas. Although the Bulgarian Dimitrov was as dangerous as ever with his serve, he had zero breaks in the entirety of the game and his poor receiving work prevented him from remaining competitive throughout. Tsitsipas advances to the next round where Andrey Rublev, seeded 13, awaits.
The Russian Rublev had scaled through a tough battle against Marton Fucsovics in a match that lasted three hours and 54 minutes for four sets. Coincidentally, it was Rublev’s second match to last more than three hours in the tournament. He survived a five-set thriller against Sam Querrey in the first round of games. In their match, the Hungarian Fucsovic produced eight aces and 61 winners but Rublev came through with some excellent shots of his own to pull ahead of his opponent and set up an exciting tie against Tsitsipas. The Russian will fancy his chances especially in what has been a breakout year for him as he has already amassed three titles this season.
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The day closed with the tie between the Spanish Pablo Carreno Busta and the German Daniel Altmaier, where the Spaniard triumphed. Though the 17th seeded Busta let plenty of opportunities slip, he was able to keep the pressure on throughout the three sets with 44 winners. His opponent had won 13 straight sets coming into this game but he was rarely in control of the court on Monday. Altmaier’s impressive run at Roland Garros had come to an end.
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The women’s No. 7 seed Petra Kvitova, THEWILL contends, must have been wary of the fortune that had befallen other seeded women players in Paris this year. But she showed resolve to power on and book a spot in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros for the first time since 2012. To do that she had to scale over her Chinese opponent Shuai Zhang in Round 4. She did that in impressive fashion.
Kvitova dominated from the word go. It was a performance she wrapped up with 23 winners in the two sets compared with just nine from Zhang. It was a continuation of an impressive comeback for the Czech who was a victim of a knife attack in 2016 and took some time off before returning to competitive tennis at this tournament in 2017. She expressed the emotions she felt coming back after the tough time she went through at the post match interview and she resolved to continue reaching for excellence.
In another match, German player Laura Siegemund earned her first quarter-final appearance at a Grand Slam after she overcame the challenge posed by Paula Badosa from Spain. The German won 72 percent of her first-serve points and was terrifyingly precise throughout the game. Her Spanish opponent struggled with three double-faults and 30 unforced errors to go with just 12 winners. It was not enough as Siegemund carried the day and earned her entry into her first ever quarter-final.
The fourth seed American Sofia Kenin also qualified for the next round after an uphill battle against home favourite and Frenchwoman Fiona Ferro. Ferro dominated the first set while going 3-of-3 on break points and also getting a break early in the second set. However, Kenin was unrelenting and responded by winning 12 of the final 14 games without facing a single break point in this stretch. The American won 12 of 13 service points in a very exciting third set.
Waiting for him in the next round will be whoever wins the tie between Ons Jabeur and Danielle Collins. Their matchup was postponed until Tuesday because of rain.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
