Tsitsipas Eases Past Schwartzman Into Roland Garros Fourth Round

Stefanos Tsitsipas played his best match of this Roland Garros fortnight to earn a dominant victory against Diego Schwartzman on Friday night in Paris. The fifth-seeded Greek was in command from start to finish in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, a result that secured his passage to the fourth round for the fifth straight year at the clay-court Grand Slam.

Now 20-6 at Roland Garros, the 2021 finalist will meet surprise package Sebastian Ofner, a qualifier from Austria, for a place in the quarter-finals.

"It wasn't easy at all," Tsitsipas said of his straight-sets win. "I know it was three sets, [but it was] so far my most difficult match in terms of concentration and having to stay in there on every single point. Diego did a great job fighting on every single point and not giving me any free points. I knew that I was dealing with that today and that was the biggest asset of his game which I had to take away. Patience — that's what I learned today."

The Greek quickly set the tone by racing out to a 3-0 lead in the opening set. Thanks to his dominance on serve and from the baseline, his lead was never truly under threat — in the opening set or in the match — though Schwartzman made a final push in a titanic start to the final set with the help of some well-timed drop shots. 

[BREAK POINT]

After the Argentine fought off a break point to make it 1-1 in the third, he created three break chances in a marathon return game that Tsitsipas ultimately survived. The Greek secured his sixth and final break of the match (on 18 break points) in the very next game, then served out the match from 0/30 after seeing two match points go begging in the previous return game. Tsitsipas saved four of five break points against him in the victory despite landing only 54 per cent of his first serves.

"I'm happy because I put out a great fight, and the crowd was by my side, which always helps," said Tsitsipas, who thrilled the crowd with a rare around-the-net backhand winner from beyond the baseline in set three. "I had a great time playing on Lenglen again one more time here. I have a blast every single time that I get to share these emotions with the rest of the fans."

THIS. SHOT. ?

No words. #RolandGarros | @steftsitsipas pic.twitter.com/LEL1TqQaLD

Schwartzman, who fell to 7-15 on the season with the defeat, entered the third-round match behind six consecutive sets won. After escaping a two-set hole to upset 32nd seed Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the opening round, he moved past Nuno Borges in straight sets to set up the Tsitsipas showdown.

But the 30-year-old was denied what would have been his best result of a challenging season by a crisp performance from Tsitsipas. With the defeat, Schwartzman dropped to 2-7 against Top 10 opponents at Roland Garros and fell short in his attempt to reach the Paris fourth round for the fourth year in a row. He was seeking his first Top 5 win on clay since he upset then-World No. 3 Dominic Thiem at Roland Garros in 2020 to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final.