LONDON: German qualifier Daniel Altmaier upset Italy’s seventh seed Matteo Berrettini at the French Open on Saturday with a 6-2, 7-6(7-5), 6-4 victory to enter the fourth round in his first Grand Slam tournament.
Altmaier faces Spanish US Open semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta inthe last 16 after he bested Davis Cup team-mate Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 after a 3-hours-and-22-minutes battle.
Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was too good for Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene, who pulled out of their contest when he was losing 6-1, 6-2,3-1.
On the women’s side, reigning Australian Open champion and fourth seed Sofia Kenin advanced after the American easily dispatched Romania’s Irina Bara 6-2, 6-0. But eighth seed Aryna Sabalenka was knocked out by Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who prevailed in three sets 7-6 (9-7), 2-6, 6-3.
In the men’s draw, Russian Andrey Rublev is through after the 22-year-old brushed past South Africa’s two-time major finalist Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
The 13th-seeded Rublev goes on to face Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, who continues his run after eliminating fourth seed Daniil Medvedev with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 success over Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.
The 22-year-old Altmaier, who is ranked 186th in the world, broke Berrettini’s serve twice to claim the first set before battling back from 5-3 down in the second to double his advantage by edging a tie-break. “I was always believing I can be here, I can perform good, I can play well and beat those guys’’, Altmaier explained his successful run after previous wins over Feliciano Lopez and 30th seed Jan Lennard-Struff.
“I was working really hard with my team to be in this position, to feel stable, to really play well and compete against the top guys of the game.”
Berrettini, world No 8, was frustrated in the third set as the errors from his racket mounted and he offered a decisive break at 2-2 with a wildly hit volley. — dpa
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