French Open – Men’s results: Tsitsipas “impressively good” – Fognini and Ofner surprise, Wawrinka out

Fifth in the world rankings Stefanos Tsitsipas effortlessly advanced to the third round of the French Open in Paris. The Greek made short work of the Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena in a 6: 3, 7: 6, 6: 2 on Wednesday. After 2:16 hours, Tsitsipas converted his first match point.

“I had a lot of fun today,” said Tsitsipas, who particularly impressed with a strong return game and took his opponent’s serve six times, in an on-court interview with Sweden’s tennis legend Mats Wilander.

The Paris finalist of 2021 is one of the extended circle of favorites in Roland-Garros again this year. Tsitsipas is still waiting for his first Grand Slam title. “He was unsatisfied after the first match,” said Eurosport-Expert Barbara Rittner, “Today he was much more himself, felt more comfortable. That was impressively good today.”

In the 3rd round, Tsitsipas meets the resurgent Diego Schwartzman (Argentina), who defeated the Portuguese Nuno Borges 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 4, 6: 3.

Wawrinka fails at Kokkinakis, Alcaraz further

Like Tsitsipas, the Brit Cameron Norrie also progressed in three sentences. Number 14 on the seeding list defeated Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6:1, 6:3, 6:3.

For Stan Wawrinka, however, the journey is over. The Swiss, 2015 winner in Paris, lost after a big fight 6: 3, 5: 7, 3: 6, 7: 6 (7: 4), 3: 6 against the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis.

The game lasted 4:37 hours – it is questionable whether the 38-year-old will compete again in Roland-Garros. When saying goodbye, “Stan the Man” had tears in his eyes.

Fognini and Ofner cause a sensation

Meanwhile, Fabio Fognini is in a really good mood. The 36-year-old Italian continued his triumphal march in Paris with a 6: 4, 7: 6 (7: 5), 6: 2 against the Australian Jason Kubler.

Fognini, only 130 in the world, was last in the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon in 2021.

Surprisingly, Sebastian Ofner is also in the third round. The Austrian, who had to fight his way through the qualification in Paris, defeated the favored Sebastian Korda (USA/No. 24) 6:3, 7:6 (7:1), 6:4 in the second round.

The 27-year-old Ofner had already defeated an American in the first round with Maxime Cressy. Korda, still a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open, could hardly serve in the clay court season due to injury.

After the opening defeats in Madrid and Rome, the early end for the son of the former Australian Open winner Petr Korda (Czech Republic) followed in Paris.

(with SID)