Stefanos Tsitsipas zooms into French Open fourth round

 

Stefanos Tsitsipas quelled the firepower of John Isner to reach the fourth round of the French Open under the lights at Roland Garros.

If the fifth seed, one of the favourites to win the title, had hoped that facing the 6ft 10in American at night would have made his big game a little easier to handle he was swiftly disabused of that notion.

Isner played a brilliant first set both on serve and from the baseline, where his talents have always been overlooked, and, had he taken a break point at 3-3 in the second set, the match might have turned out differently.

Make it a third consecutive round of 16 for Tsitsipas in Paris with his 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-1 late night finish over Isner

But Tsitsipas saved it with a gutsy forehand, willed himself first to hold serve and then to break, and eventually wore Isner down with his superior all-round game.

He took the third set on a tie-break and then surged to the finish line against a weary opponent to win 5-7 6-3 7-6 (3) 6-1, clinching it with an ace.

Tsitsipas said: “He’s a big guy who hits amazing strokes. I can learn a lot playing against him, he’s one of the toughest guys to play. His serve is obviously a big obstacle.

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“I didn’t have the best start. Things started going my way in the second set, I started finding my returns, feeling my game a little bit better from the baseline. I think my head cleaned up and led me to that important victory.”

Daniil Medvedev’s new-found love affair with Parisian clay continued as he eased into the fourth round.

The world number two had not won a match at Roland Garros prior to this year but has dropped just one set in three contests, with his latest success a 6-4 6-2 6-4 victory over giant American Reilly Opelka.

The 23-year-old is even taller than John Isner and enjoys playing on clay but this was Medvedev’s day, the Russian breaking Opelka’s serve five times to move into the last 16.