French Open: Jannik Sinner drops just 3 games to extend Grand Slam unbeaten run to 17 matches
When Jannik Sinner's opponent in the French Open's third round finally won a single game Saturday, the Court Suzanne-Lenglen crowd responded with a standing ovation. Sinner was simply too good on this day, extending his Grand Slam winning streak to 17 matches and looking very much like the No. 1-ranked man.
Sinner dominated Jiri Lehecka 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 in just 1 hour, 34 minutes, the quickest men's match at Roland-Garros this year and, measured by games lost, the most lopsided victory at a major tournament of Sinner's career.
'We try to improve,' Sinner said. 'Today, I don't think there are many things I can improve.'
Can say that again.
Check out some of the numbers: Sinner delivered 31 winners and made only nine unforced errors. He accumulated 18 break points, converting seven, and faced just one, which he saved.
The first 11 games went Sinner's way. When Sinner missed a return wide, making the score 6-0, 5-1 after 55 minutes of action, Lehecka raised his arm and pumped his fist in a bit of sarcastic celebration. The fans went wild, rising out of their seats and clapping and shouting, eliciting a smile from Lehecka.
Make no mistake, though. Lehecka is no also-ran. The 23-year-old from the Czech Republic is ranked 34th and has been a Grand Slam quarterfinalist.
But he was completely overmatched by Sinner, who has won the past two major championships — at the U.S. Open in September and the Australian Open in January — and is now the owner of an unbeaten run at the sport's most important tournaments that's been surpassed this century only by a trio of guys by the names of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Sinner's bid for a first French Open title, and fourth Slam trophy overall, will continue Monday, when he'll face No. 17 Andrey Rublev for a quarterfinal berth. Rublev advanced when his opponent, No. 14 Arthur Fils, withdrew from the tournament because a stress fracture in his lower back.
What else happened at the French Open on Saturday?
Jessica Pegula, the No. 3-seeded American who was the runner-up at the U.S. Open, came back to eliminate 2019 French Open finalist and 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and reach the fourth round. No. 6 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian who reached the semifinals a year ago, advanced to a fourth-round showdown against No. 17 Daria Kasatkina. American qualifier Ethan Quinn, the 2023 NCAA champion for the University of Georgia, played his second consecutive five-setter and was beaten by Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4. Griekspoor came into the day 0-4 in third-round matches at majors.
Who is on the schedule at Roland-Garros on Sunday?
No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and the two defending champions, Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz, are all scheduled to appear in the fourth round Sunday. There are three American men in Week 2 in Paris for the first time since 1995, and all are in action: No. 12 Tommy Paul, No. 13 Ben Shelton and No. 15 Frances Tiafoe. Shelton faces Alcaraz, Paul goes up against No. 25 Alexei Popyrin, and Tiafoe meets Daniel Altmaier.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
24 minutes ago
- USA Today
Who's in super regionals? Updated bracket, schedule for NCAA baseball tournament
Who's in super regionals? Updated bracket, schedule for NCAA baseball tournament Show Caption Hide Caption College baseball player forms sweet bond with coach's daughters While playing for Coach Frank Avilla Jr., Brady Crabtree formed a special, sibling-like bond with his daughters - a connection that continued well after graduation. The 2025 NCAA Baseball Tournament regional round is wrapping up. That means the field in contention for the 2025 College World Series shrinks from the initial 64 teams to just 16 teams as regionals wrap up across 16 host sites on June 1 and 2. The next round is the super regionals, held across eight host sites, with eight teams advancing to the CWS at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. While the top eight seeds are usually in line to host the super regional round, there have been upsets early in the regional round, which could shuffle potential host sites. Here's what you need to know about who is advancing to the super regionals, the hosts and when the games start: Watch NCAA baseball super regionals with ESPN+ Who is in the NCAA baseball tournament super regionals? Here are the teams that have won regionals and advanced to the super regional round of the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament: This section will be updated No. 13 Coastal Carolina (won Conway Regional) Duke (won Athens Regional) When are the NCAA baseball tournament super regionals? The 2025 NCAA baseball tournament super regionals are scheduled to begin on June 6 and run through June 9. Across eight super regional sites, 16 teams will play three-game series to determine who advances to the College World Series (CWS). NCAA baseball tournament schedule Here's the full 2025 NCAA baseball tournament schedule: Regionals : May 30-June 2 : May 30-June 2 Super regionals : June 6-9 : June 6-9 College World Series : June 13-22/23 : June 13-22/23 CWS finals: June 21-22/23 The 2025 NCAA baseball tournament began May 30 with the regional round of play. It will advance to the super regionals (June 6-9) and the College World Series (beginning June 23). The CWS championship series will take place from June 21 through either June 22 or 23, depending on whether the series requires two or three games.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Borba hits grand slam, 3-run HR as Texas beats Kansas State 15-8 to avoid elimination
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Casey Borba hit a grand slam in the first inning, added a three-run homer in the third and finished with eight RBIs to help Texas beat Kansas State 15-8 on Sunday in an elimination game at the Austin Regional. The Longhorns, the No. 2 national seed, play UTSA in the championship round Sunday night. Texas has to beat the Roadrunners — who sent UT to the loser's bracket with a 9-7 win Saturday — twice to win the double-elimination regional. UTSA, which advanced to a regional championship for the first time in program history, also beat the Longhorns 8-7 in 12 innings on March 18 in the only matchup between the teams in the regular season. Advertisement Ruger Riojas (9-3) gave up seven runs, including three homers, and hit three batters while throwing a career-high 119 pitches across 7 1/3 innings. Ethan Mendoza led off the game with a double and scored two batters later when Max Belyeu hit the first pitch he saw from Tanner Duke over the left-field wall. Kimble Schuessler and Adrian Rodriguez followed with back-to-back singles and Jalin Flores was hit by a pitch before James Guyette replaced Duke (2-3). Jonah Williams struck out looking before Borba cleared the bases to make it 6-0. Seth Dardar hit a three-run home run in the first before AJ Evasco hit a solo shot as part of a two-run seventh and a two-run homer in the eighth for the Wildcats. Keegan O'Connor's RBI groundout in the ninth capped the scoring. ___ AP sports: The Associated Press
New York Times
37 minutes ago
- New York Times
French Open recap: Aryna Sabalenka's tennis evolution sees her through at Roland Garros
Follow The Athletic's French Open coverage Welcome to the French Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament. On day eight, a world No. 1 showed why she has evolved her game, a tale of three match points and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka went into Sunday's meeting with Amanda Anisimova with a 2-5 head-to-head record, and having lost three of their four meetings on clay. In theory, that put the American No. 16 seed at a pretty big advantage. But four of those five Anisimova wins came before Sabalenka had become a Grand Slam champion — and more importantly, the multi-faceted player she is now. Advertisement Sabalenka offered a reminder of that evolution throughout a comfortable 7-5, 6-3 victory to reach the quarterfinals. Things got tight in the first set when Anisimova came back from 5-2 down to having a couple of break points at 5-5, but Sabalenka proved ultimately too good. She had too much variety for Anisimova, who could more or less match her power but lacks the kind of plan B that Sabalenka now has. In the decisive game of the first set, with Anisimova serving at 5-6, Sabalenka used a drop shot to draw a missed forehand from her opponent for 15-15. Later in the game, Anisimova constructed a couple of points — one of them the break point from which Sabalenka ultimately took the set — with calmness and precision, dragging Sabalenka way out of position. On both of them, a high-margin drop shot would have been a safe way to end the point. But Anisimova only had another powerful groundstroke in her locker, and she missed them both and lost the set. In her news conference afterwards, Sabalenka talked about the importance of keeping her opponent guessing. 'As much as I could, I tried to change the rhythm against her,' she said. 'I think I did it pretty well, and overall I stayed really aggressive. Those little moments (of variety) help me a lot to put extra pressure on her.' She'll play Zheng Qinwen for a place in the semifinals Charlie Eccleshare Every player who has taken a point when they know, deep down, that a chair umpire or a line judge has made the wrong call ought to take a look at some video from Carlos Alcaraz vs. Ben Shelton at Roland Garros. Alcaraz didn't like a call on a Shelton serve during the first set. He complained to the chair umpire that the ball had ticked the net, but didn't get anywhere. Shelton offered to replay the point. Alcaraz turned him down. Advertisement A set later it was Alcaraz's turn to live tennis etiquette in a way so few players do. Early in the second set, Shelton fired a passing shot at Alcaraz. Alcaraz lunged for it and somehow made the volley as his racket flew out of his hand. The chair umpire gave him the point. Alcaraz said no. He knew his racket had made contact with the ball after it left his hand. He gave Shelton the point. Too much class from Carlitos, who gave the point to Ben Shelton after telling the chair umpire he did not have his racket in his hand when contact was made with the ball 👏#RolandGarros — Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 1, 2025 'I would have felt guilty I didn't say anything about that,' Alcaraz said. 'I have to be honest with myself and with everyone I play,' He said that's what tennis is, or should be. Stuff like this happens a lot in tennis. Here's a simple rule that would solve a lot of problems for players: Be cool. Matt Futterman For an encapsulation of how much more aggressively No. 13 seed Elina Svitolina plays these days, check out the third match point she saved against last year's runner-up, Jasmine Paolini. Svitolina had already saved two match points. Serving down 4-5 in the second set, she got on the front foot in of them; in the other, Paolini went for broke and made an unforced error. The third was the toughest. The set had gone to a tiebreak, and Paolini was serving at 6-5. After seeing off the serve, Svitolina edged her way forward and then ripped a forehand up the line that Paolini could only float back in response. Svitolina, who had anticipated that kind of ball, knifed away a backhand winner to keep herself alive. Svitolina hit 37 winners in total in the match, and pinched the tiebreak 8-6 to level the match at one-set all. Advertisement From there, she kept on attacking and cruised home 6-1 in the decider. Once considered a relatively safe player, Svitolina has dialled up the aggression and it's led to her playing some of the best tennis of her career. Paolini has seen it at closer quarters than most: Svitolina came back from a set down against her at this year's Australian Open, too, winning the final set there 6-0. Next up for Svitolina is a quarterfinal Tuesday against the four-time champion Swiatek, who Svitolina beat at the same stage of Wimbledon two years ago. For Paolini, this defeat will take a bit of getting over. 'I had my chances, and I didn't — I don't know, maybe one match point I could play better, but at the same time, she's a great player,' Paolini said in a post-match news conference. 'She played really well.' Charlie Eccleshare Iga Świątek is the only Roland Garros champion left in the draw… Or is she? Świątek didn't win the last tennis final played on these clay courts: Zheng Qinwen did, beating Świątek on the way to Olympic gold in women's singles last summer. She remains the only player to beat Świątek here since 2021, and she walks the grounds with the swagger of a champion. Zheng outlasted Liudmila Samsonova Sunday, to set up a quarterfinal with Sabalenka, the player she beat in Rome last month. There's no question this is her tennis happy place at the moment. 'I still remember how many times I fall on the ground last year,' she said after the Samsonova win, which she celebrated with the kind of backwards collapse normally associated with Grand Slam titles. 'Even me today I still remember the Olympic Games moment on court. I say to myself during the match, 'Keep fighting, just keep going on, don't look at the score, and let's see what's going to happen.'' Advertisement With that attitude and her recent memories of toppling Sabalenka for the first time in her career, Zheng may be a very tough out for the world No. 1. Matt Futterman Tell us what you noticed on the eighth day… (Top photo of Aryna Sabalenka: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic)
