Italian tennis continues to reach new highs at the French Open despite the shock exit of world No.1 Jannik Sinner earlier in the draw.
Matteo Arnaldi staged a marathon comeback against Frances Tiafoe in the early hours of Friday morning to move into his first Grand Slam quarter-final. The 25-year-old defied the odds to produce a 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4, win over the 19th seed. Arnaldi was down a break twice in the fourth set and again in the decider, but battled back to secure victory.
“I don’t know how I’m standing here to be honest,” Arnaldi said afterwards. “We live to play these matches. I always dreamed to play matches like this, at Roland-Garros, at night, in these battles against someone like Frances.
“I think at one point it wasn’t tennis, it was just something else, you just played with everything you had. There had to be a winner and fortunately it was me tonight.
“This is definitely the best match I ever played.”
The world No.104 has spent a total of 17 hours and 42 minutes on court to reach the quarter-finals. Since the ATP started to record the length of major matches in 1991, no player has spent longer on the court to reach the last eight of any major. Arnaldi also played five sets in the third round, as well as four sets in rounds two and one.
Arnaldi joins compatriots Flavio Capoboli and Matteo Berrettini in the last eight, marking a new milestone for Italian tennis as the first time in the Open Era the country has had three men in the last eight of the same major event.
Arnaldi is now preparing for a showdown against Berrettini, who is playing at Roland Garros for the first time in five years after missing recent editions due to numerous health-related issues. Berrettini, who is a former Wimbledon finalist, defeated Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6(2), 7-6(3).
“He has also come back after a tough injury on his foot, he wasn’t able to play the way he wanted to for a long time,” Berrettini said of Arnaldi during his press conference.
“He’s such a great competitor. If you’re playing a fellow Italian, it’s a little bit trickier. But it’s part of the game, it’s part of what we do.
“Luckily, it’s happening a lot on Tour in the best stages. Flavio is in the quarterfinals as well. Obviously, we have Jannik, Lorenzo Musetti, and Darderi. Everybody’s playing unbelievable tennis. So it’s just good for Italian tennis. We’re going to be sure that one Italian is going to be in the semis, so it’s good for the Italian fans.”
Cobolli, who is the highest-ranked Italian left in the draw, will next take on fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. He will be bidding to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final, which will also move him into the top 10 of the PIF ATP rankings for the first time.
“I just want to enjoy the tournament. I just want to enjoy the match. It’s an incredible honour to play on Chatrier. So it’s a dream come true for me, and I want to keep this dream going.” Said Cobolli.
This year is the first time three players from the same country have reached the quarter-finals of the men’s French Open since the Spanish trio of Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo and David Ferrer did so in 2013.
