Spain’s third seed Carlos Alcaraz showed renewed enthusiasm by outplaying Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open.
The 21-year-old Alcaraz beat the 21st seed from Canada 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 on a rare rain-free day in Paris.
The reigning Wimbledon champion will face Greece’s ninth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, in the quarterfinals.
“I’m really happy with my performance today. I felt like I played really high level tennis,” Alcaraz said.
“I’m happy with my serve, my shots and my movement on the court.”
Tsitsipas, bidding for his first major title, came from behind to beat Italian Matteo Arnaldi, ranked 35th in the world, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-2.
Alcaraz has already won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon and is looking to win his first French Open title.
But his preparations were hampered by a forearm injury that carried over into the clay-court majors.
He arrived in Paris having only reached the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open on clay and acknowledged early on in the tournament that he was still in pain.
After his emphatic third-round win over Sebastian Korda, he said he felt more like himself, and that’s exactly what he showed when he beat 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime on Court Philippe Chatrier.
“I haven’t been in a good rhythm yet, but I believe in myself and with each practice and match I’m getting better and better,” added Alcaraz, who reached the semifinals last year.
Auger-Aliassime required treatment for what appeared to be a muscle problem early in the second set and struggled to serve for the remainder of the match.
Alcaraz exploited Auger-Aliassime’s weaknesses, breaking him twice en route to a 5-0 lead in the third set and winning with a break of serve shortly after Tsitsipas had achieved a similar break of serve on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Arnaldi had stunned Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev in the previous round and was leading by one set and a break and looking to pull off another remarkable win.
In his loss to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 French Open final, Tsitsipas paid the price for failing to convert five break points in the first set and three in the second.
But he showed courage by saving four set points at 5-3 and 5-4 and was eventually rewarded by breaking Arnaldi’s serve in the 10th game.
Tsitsipas won the tiebreak and then broke in the opening game of the third set before maintaining complete control and breaking three more times to secure the victory.
