PARIS: Coco Gauff thought she was about to enter the court to play her second-round match at the French Open. The runner-up at Roland Garros the previous year would subsequently said, "I was probably about 70% done with my warmup."
No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner was serving for the win against Daniel Altmaier on June 1 in Court Suzanne Lenglen with the score at 5-4 in the fourth set. Sinner was then just one point away. However, he was unable to capitalise on that match point. He had the opportunity for an overhead putaway but instead essentially fired the ball straight at Altmaier, whose forehand in reaction hit the top of the net tape and flew by Sinner.
Altmaier finally converted his own fifth match point with a 111 mph ace down the middle to secure the 6-7(0) 7-6(7) 1-6 7-6(4) 7-5 triumph after a further 1 hour, 43 minutes of play.
After the nearly 5 1/2-hour marathon, Altmaier said, "A great turnaround," while sobbing uncontrollably. "The feelings were insane." How then did Gauff pass the time? One thing is to see Sinner vs. Altmaier. Another snack she was having was a fruit salad her dad had cooked with cantaloupe, pineapple, and watermelon. And relaxing, obviously.
Following the hold-up, the American teenager defeated Julia Grabher 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour, 8 minutes. Gauff will next face Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, 16, in the third round on Saturday.
As the third round of the tennis tournament comes to an end, Court Philippe Chatrier will host some of the best athletes in the world: Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, and Jessica Pegula. No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the runner-up at the 2021 French Open, will play Diego Schwartzman on Lenglen, while No. 7 Andrey Rublev will take on Lorenzo Sonego. Peyton Stearns, a 21-year-old American who represented the University of Texas in last year's NCAA championship match, will attempt to defeat No. 9 seed Daria Kasatkina, a semifinals from the previous year.
Iga Swiatek, who is ranked first, continued to defend her championship. The second-time winner of the French Open has yet to encounter a challenge and will take on Xinyu Wang in the third round. The Wimbledon winner and No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina also triumphed easily. And in her first Grand Slam match, 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva advanced once more. On the men's side, No. 4 seed Casper Ruud, who finished second to Rafael Nadal last year, advanced to the third round.
Sri Lanka set to unleash IPL star Pathirana against Afganistan
