A third set point to Shelton, then a first and second for Alcaraz

New York Times

2 days ago

Follow live coverage of the fourth round at Roland Garros, after Frances Tiafoe joins Tommy Paul in the last eight Getty Images
The fourth round of the 2025 French Open is in full swing with two American stars into the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in Paris.
Carlos Alcaraz (2) beat Ben Shelton in four sets, but Frances Tiafoe (15) has joined fellow American Tommy Paul (12) in the quarters.
Lorenzo Musetti (8) and Holger Rune (10) are on Philippe-Chatrier for the night session, and it's Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Zheng Qinwen (8) and Iga Świątek (5) vs. Elina Svitolina (13) in the women's singles last eight after their wins today. Watch: TNT, truTV, Tennis Channel, Max (U.S.); TNT (UK)
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Shelton 6-6 (8-9*) Alcaraz
Shelton hits the line and it's 7-6 for a third set point. Alcaraz chunters unhappily to his box.
Both players grunting with exertion now, loudly and a little performatively.
Alcaraz comes to the net and it's an awkward low return from Shelton but his soft hands see him drop-volley it gently the other side of the net.
Now Alcaraz takes set point at 8-7 and he roars approvingly. But Shelton with two smash volleys at the net, the first of which is brilliantly returned by Alcaraz, not many players in world tennis who could do that, the second put away.
Strange mistake from Shelton, 9-8 Alcaraz and a second set point, this time on his serve...
Shelton 6-6 (6-6*) Alcaraz
Ace from Alcaraz to start and from a perilous position at 4-1 down, the Spaniard is now within a point. Eesh, bizarre miscue as the ball hits the edge of his racket and balloons high into the Parisian sky. 5-3 Shelton.
What a point that is! Point of the match, definitely. Maybe even point of the tournament so far.
Alcaraz retrieves the serve, Shelton puts him in the corner, Alcaraz retrieves the drop shot brilliantly and goes down the line, Shelton somehow gets there and flips it back to him behind the back but Alcaraz's volley at the net lands on the line as Shelton falls on his back to watch it just about kiss the line.
Shelton smiles wryly, Alcaraz gives his opponent a tiny nod. 5-4, then two set points to Shelton at 6-4. Alcaraz saves one for 6-5... Body serve is out, second serve is well returned, and Shelton nets! 6-6! Getty Images
Shelton 6-6 (*4-2) Alcaraz
Mini-break to Shelton at 2-0 up, before Alcaraz volleys it away powerfully. A couple of overhand smashes take Shelton to 3-1 and he scrunches up his face, nodding to his box.
USWNT soccer star Trinity Rodman, his girlfriend, is watching on approvingly.
Alcaraz errs and it's 4-1, eliciting a roar from Ben Shelton. Serve over to Carlos Alcaraz, and he wins a crucial point to make 4-2 at the changeover.
Shelton 6-6 (0-0*) Alcaraz
Yep, Carlos Alcaraz with a blinder of a game and we are 6-6 in the first set, into a tiebreak.
Let's go.
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Top-tier tennis in the City of Light. Getty Images
It was nice to see the two players battling it out have a polite, friendly little chat at the net between games earlier in the set.
Carlos Alcaraz was saying he heard something and thought Ben Shelton's serve might have clipped the net.
Shelton sportingly offered to replay the point, to which Alcaraz smiled and thanked him but said it was fine and he was happy to move on.
We like to see it. Getty Images
These two are not good friends but they like each other a lot.
They played an exhibition at Madison Square Garden together last year. They both like to put on a show, sometimes to their detriment.
It's not yet clear Carlos is locked into this match the way he is when he's playing one of his near-equals.
He's in a dangerous part of the set, when a lapse has made his job difficult in the past. Getty Images
It's currently 5-5 in the first set between Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz.
Only one break point so far, to Alcaraz, but it was saved.
Careering towards a fascinating tiebreak on the show court. Getty Images
A humdinger of a first set on Lenglen between Sabalenka and Anisimova which the world No. 1 edges 7-5.
Sabalenka had a set point on her serve at 5-3, but couldn't take it, and was then down two break points at 5-5.
At that point, as so often happens with the best players, she locked in: holding serve and then pinching the set in the next game.
The weight of shot both players produce is staggering, but the greater variety Sabalenka possesses with her far superior drop shot and net game is just giving her the edge so far. Getty Images
There's your top seed.
Sabalenka broke Amanda Anisimova of the United States in the final game of their first set to take it 7-5.
Into the second we go. Anisimova needs to go the distance to reach the last eight.
All four third-round men's doubles matches today have been completed.
As aforementioned, Horacio Zeballos/Marcel Granollers (5) steamrollered American Austin Krajicek and Santiago González 6-2, 6-1.
While second seeds Henry Patten/Harri Heliövaara beat Rohan Bopanna/Adam Pavlásek 6-2, 7-6(5).
Ninth seeds Evan King/Christian Harrison got past Yuki Bhambri/Robert Galloway 6-4, 6-4, while Orlando Luz/Ivan Dodig eliminated John-Patrick Smith/Fernando Romboli thanks to a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 win.
Early on in Shelton-Alcaraz it's been a battle of who is holding serve more easily.
So far the advantage goes to Alcaraz, who's been mostly cruising through the service games until game 6, when Shelton got to deuce, from 40-0.
Shelton drifted back for the second serve return, but never got back to the baseline and got beat on the drop shot.
Alcaraz's serve is a lock that can be picked, but can Shelton do it? He's a below average returner.
If Shelton has to rely to heavily on his bombs to get out of jail, that's going to be a not-great sign. Getty Images
Over on Suzanne-Lenglen, a big moment.
Aryna Sabalenka (1) led the alliterative American Amanda Anisimova (16) 5-2 after a break of serve, then 5-3.
She had a set point... but the 23-year-old saved it then broke the Belarusian for 5-4, serving to make it 5-5.
It sounds like the start of a bad joke. Two American men walk onto a court at Roland Garros to play a tennis match on red clay. Now, choose your punch line: Both lose? At gunpoint? The golf courses were all closed?
Ask any of the American men still alive and kicking at this year's French Open. They've heard it all their tennis lives. No one would dare predict an American man will triumph here June 8, but the current generation is still taking promising baby steps in the City of Light.
The country's collective success — eight players in the fourth round — is a 40-year high.
'I remind myself it's just tennis,' Tommy Paul said. 'You're just playing tennis on a different surface. And we're good tennis players. We got to figure it out. I think we're doing a better job of that.'
Perhaps this can be the start of something new.
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How U.S. men's tennis players found their Grand Slam footing on the French Open clay Getty Images
Iga Świątek, a four-time champion at Roland Garros whose progress here tends to be so serene, was pushed to her limits Saturday in a thrilling 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win against former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina at the French Open.
For the past three years, it has been hard to quantify just how good Świątek's performances at the tournament have been, because of the obvious gulf in quality between her and her opponents even when some of them are at the very top of the sport.
Świątek has not lost a match at this tournament in four years, and has rarely been troubled on her way to winning the last three French Opens.
Not so Sunday. While Rybakina's results over the past year had not been brilliant until a recent surge in form, she can blast anyone off any court when she is playing near her peak.
'I just kept fighting,' Świątek said in her on-court interview. Rybakina played some of her best tennis of the past year at this French Open, as she has done for most of the past month.
She won her first title in over a year in Strasbourg, France in the run up to Roland Garros. On Court Philippe-Chatrier, she raised her level even higher against the four-time champion. Świątek just proved too much, in the end.
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Iga Swiatek wins thrilling Elena Rybakina duel at French Open after opening set rout Getty Images
Aryna Sabalenka leads Amanda Anisimova 3-1 after an early break in the first set on Lenglen, with Ben Shelton vs. Carlos Alcaraz in the opening service game of the match on Chatrier. Getty Images
Cruz Hewitt here, son of multiple Grand Slam winner Lleyton, facing Pierluigi Basile of Italy in the first round of the Boy's Singles.
Basile won the first set 7-6 and it's 2-2 in the second at the moment on Court 4. Getty Images
On Chatrier, Ben Shelton (13) vs. Carlos Alcaraz, followed by Lorenzo Musetti (8) vs. Holger Rune (10).
On Suzanne-Lenglen, Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs Amanda Anisimova (16) before Frances Tiafoe (15) vs. Daniel Altmaier.
Świątek's only played Rybakina twice at the slams, including today, and Sabalenka once.
Which is a real shame because it's these occasions that really elevate the sport.
Today was electric, and a privilege to see Świątek tested to her limits and able to find a way through.