Under roofs, Sofia Kenin and Stefanos Tsitsipas reach Roland Garros third round
Their two matches were the only to be completed by mid-afternoon on another rainy day in Paris.
PARIS—Dismal weather engulfed Roland Garros for yet another day, with no end in sight, but Sofia Kenin and Stefanos Tsitsipas didn’t seem to mind.
Playing under roofs on Courts Philippe Chatrier and, for the first year, Suzanne Lenglen, the former Roland Garros runner-ups reached the third round on an otherwise gloomy Wednesday. The American had no trouble with No. 21 seed—and noted podcaster—Caroline Garcia, winning 6-3, 6-3. The Greek took four sets to see his way past Daniel Altmaier, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4.
Kenin’s performance was striking in its efficiency. She won 44 of 54 first-serve points, 32 of 44 second-serve points, and broke Garcia four times. Facing Jelena Ostapenko or Clara Tauson next, 2020 Australian Open champion will attempt to reach the fourth round of a major tournament for the first time since 2021—which she did at Roland Garros.
This is just the second time this season that Kenin has won two matches at a tournament, the other coming on clay in Rome.
“I definitely feel like I’ve come a long way,” Kenin told TENNIS.com and other reporters in Rome, after an upset of Ons Jabeur. “I’m not too happy with how this season was going, but I’m happy it’s going in the right direction.
“I feel like the hard work is paying off and the fact that I’m still fighting, training every day, working hard on my fitness, I was feeling like it was all going to come together at some point.”
Despite Kenin’s positive trend, seeing her back in a Roland Garros final would be shocking. Not so for Tsitsipas, who in this time of relative men’s tennis parity is a veritable title contender.
His match against Altmaier was relatively straightforward, but when the 83rd-ranked German swiped the third set in a tiebreaker, and took a break lead midway through the fourth, visions of a prior upset danced in reporters’ heads. It was on Lenglen, in this very round last year, that Jannik Sinner fell to Altmaier in five sets.
Tsitsipas snuffed out Altmaier’s momentum quickly, breaking him back for 4-4, and then holding from 30-30. The pressure back on the underdog, Tsitsipas broke serve once again to end the match.
“I was down in the score,” Tsitsipas told Mats Wilander on court afterwards. “I didn’t give up. I’ve had plenty of comebacks in the past and I’ve learned from those. I remember those and they inspired me to get back into the score, and be the type of player I’m looking to be when things aren’t working out so well.”
Tsitsipas will next face either Lorenzo Sonego or Zhang Zhizhen—should the rain ever pass, and these two can resume play.