Juan Manuel Cerundolo has scored a monumental upset as he knocked out world number one Jannik Sinner 3-6 2-6 7-5 6-1 6-0.
The Argentinian was down and out but took advantage of Sinner’s fitness issues to seal the biggest win of his career so far.
As for Sinner, the Italian was two sets and 5-1 up before his body gave up on him and never really recovered.
This means Sinner’s career Grand Slam dream comes to an end and will have to wait another year while Manuel Cerundolo awaits Martin Landaluce or Vit Kopriva in the next round.
It was a tale of two matches as Sinner got off to the perfect start in the opening set, producing flawless and aggressive tennis.
The Italian broke for a 2-0 lead and asserted control of the contest by holding for a 3-0 lead as Manuel Cerundolo looked second best comfortably.
There was no giving up in the Argentinian as he held his own throughout the opening set and limited Sinner to just the one break.
The world number one won the opening set in 36 minutes and soon took a two set lead with some dominant play and the Italian was flawless on return as he broke on two occasions.
In the third set Sinner was ruthless as he took advantage of Manuel Cerundolo’s deep return positioning and exposed the Argentinian on a consistent basis.
A 4-0 lead was secured and Sinner was on the verge of a flawless straight sets win and an easy day in the office which would last two hours.
However, there were problems ahead as the Italian was struggling with his serve and started to produce double faults.
All of the sudden Sinner’s body let him down and Cerundolo was winning games with out replay.
At 5-4 and 0-40 down Sinner took a rather controversial medical time-out and was hoping that would be his saving grace.
That wasn’t to be the case. Manuel Cerundolo completed six games in a row in a miraculous turnaround as he took the third set 7-5.
There was a response at the start of the fourth set as Sinner got on the board in the second game and created three break points in the following game.
The lightning forehand returned and Sinner was now becoming desperate in his attempts to finish the points off quickly.
However, Martin Cerundolo was full of confidence and saved six break points in the fourth set and breezed his way to levelling the match at two sets all.
A hopeless look towards his box as Sinner had to find something from somewhere to keep his Roland Garros hopes alive.
That was not forthcoming and Manuel Cerundolo cruised through the fifth set to score the biggest win of his career so far.
After the match Manuel Cerundolo admitted he was a little bit lucky and is excited to be in the third round, “It’s tough for him, he was leading the match and I couldn’t win more than three games in a set,” the Argentinian was quoted by the BBC Sport website as saying in his on-court interview.
“I was a little bit lucky and I feel sorry for him, he was serving to win the match. Then I don’t know what happened, I think he was cramping. Of course I feel sorry for him and I hope he recovers. I’m super happy, I will try to keep playing my best. I like to play this tournament because clay is my best surface and I hope to be ready for the next match.”
As for Sinner, it’s heartbreak for him as his body had failed him and a first Roland Garros title will have to wait another year.
Meanwhile Manuel Cerundolo is into the third round of Roland Garros and is rewarded for a good run of form.
