Prossimo articoloBerrettini–Arnaldi: the quarter comes down to who has more left in the legs

Roland Garros - 03/06

Tie-BreakfastJun 3Jun 3, 20264 min

Good morning and welcome back to TIE-Breakfast: all the tennis you need over breakfast.

Ace Cream's daily newsletter during the Masters 1000 and Grand Slams, every morning at 8:30.

Today is Wednesday, June 3rd, in Paris it's 8:30 and it's 15 degrees. Ok, let's get started.

On the menu today

🇨🇿 Mensik edges Fonseca after seven match points and reaches the semifinals
🇩🇪 Zverev fights back against Jodar and returns to the last four in Paris
🇺🇦 Kostyuk beats Svitolina in the Ukrainian derby: first Slam semifinal
🇷🇺 Andreeva overwhelms Cirstea and will face Kostyuk in the semifinals
🇮🇹 The Berrettini-Arnaldi derby and Cobolli-Auger-Aliassime: an Italian day

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇨🇿 Mensik gets past Fonseca after a battle

Jakub Mensik beat Joao Fonseca 6-4 6-3 7-6(3), closing it out only on the seventh match point after saving a set point on his opponent's serve at 5-4 in the third. For the Czech it's the first semifinal at a Slam tournament, at twenty years old. More than the result, it's the context that strikes you: two of the most anticipated faces of the next generation facing off in a Slam quarterfinal, with one of them forced to bow out just when the match looked like it could swing. Matches like this, won on the finest of margins, usually say something about how well a player can stay clear-headed when the margin grows thin.

🇩🇪 Zverev fights back and flies into the semifinals

Alexander Zverev got past Rafael Jodar 7-6(3) 6-1 6-3, after trailing 2-5 in the first set. It's his fifth semifinal at Roland Garros. The feeling is that the most delicate moment was exactly that early stretch, with Jodar on a roll and the crowd ready to believe in an upset: once the balance was restored in the tie-break, the match took a clear direction. For Zverev, who in Paris has built much of his maturity at the biggest tournaments, it's yet another confirmation of a certain solidity in the phases that matter.

🇺🇦 Kostyuk Into History, Andreeva Without Dropping A Game In The First Set

Marta Kostyuk beat Elina Svitolina 6-3 2-6 6-2 in the Ukrainian derby, becoming the first player from her country to reach a semifinal in Paris in the Open era: it's her seventeenth consecutive win, still unbeaten on clay this season. Shortly before, Mirra Andreeva had dismissed Sorana Cirstea 6-0 6-3 in just under an hour, booking her place in the semifinals. The two will meet again on Thursday in a clash that carries far more than just tennis, and that arrives on court with opposite yet equally convincing stories of form. Kostyuk leads the head-to-head on tour, but the form of both suggests the encounter could tell more than the numbers do.

WHAT'S ON TODAY:

Berrettini vs Arnaldi (night session, not before 8:15 pm) - An all-Italian derby in the quarterfinals, with Arnaldi coming off more than five hours of battle against Tiafoe. Either way, an Italian will be in the semifinals.
Auger-Aliassime vs Cobolli - The Roman seeks his first Slam semifinal against a Canadian who has just completed the quarterfinal set at all four Majors. He's the third Italian in the quarters, on a day that will go down in the record books of Italian tennis.
Sabalenka vs Shnaider - The top seed against her compatriot Shnaider: an acid test on clay for Sabalenka, chasing the semifinal.
Kalinskaya vs Chwalinska - Surprise package Chwalinska, who has come a long way to get here, opens the program on Chatrier against a Kalinskaya looking to seize the opportunity.

Enjoy your breakfast and have a great day.

See you tomorrow at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast