French Open: Zachary Svajda remembers late dad after latest win
· Yahoo Sports
Paris — Unheralded American Zachary Svajda continued his surprise French Open run on Saturday by posting a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory over No. 25 Francisco Cerundolo to reach the fourth round in Paris.
Svajda committed 18 fewer unforced errors (59-41) than Cerundolo while thriving on the clay at Roland Garros.
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The run is emotional for Svajda, whose father, Tom, died of cancer last October. Saturday would have been Tom's 61st birthday, and Svajda pointed to the sky after finishing off the victory.
"I was thinking about that," Svajda said. "I was nervous. I know he's proud of me, and I want to perform well and win. When I got that match, the last point, I just teared up, fell to the ground like, 'Oh my gosh, what is happening?'"
Cerundolo of Argentina had the edge in aces (13-10) and winners (61-43), while Svajda scored well by converting 6 of 9 break points.
Svajda will next face No. 10 Flavio Cobolli, who sailed to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Learner Tien.
Due to a slew of upsets, Cobolli is the third-highest-seeded player remaining in the field. The Italian is also aware that not a single former champion remains in the field.
"Of course I want to think match by match," Cobolli said. "That's the way that I want to think this week."
"I know that there are many possibilities to have a new Grand Slam champion. For sure, we will have a new Grand Slam champion, but I don't want to think about this. For sure, I have now another tough match."
No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada remains the highest seed in the top half of the bracket after his 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) defeat of No. 31 Brandon Nakashima. He and Cobolli join No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany as Top 10 seeds to make the Round of 16.
Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who upset top-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy on Thursday, needed five hours and 57 minutes to finish off a 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) victory over Spain's Martin Landaluce. The match was the third-longest in Roland Garros history.
Juan Manuel Cerundolo won 214 points to Landaluce's 213 and held a 16-6 edge in aces. Landaluce had more winners (87-76) and committed more unforced errors (86-71).
No. 19 seed Frances Tiafoe won his second straight five-setter, rallying from two sets down to beat Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-2.
He's the first American man to reach the fourth round of the French Open in back-to-back years since Andre Agassi in 2001-03.
"It was great," Tiafoe said. "Even if I would tell you that I feel tired, it doesn't matter. It just feels good to get through that. It wasn't looking good there for a lot of that match. These ones are big. Just gave myself another chance to stay in the event."
Italy's Matteo Berrettini also won a lengthy match with a marathon fifth-set tiebreaker, outlasting Argentina's Francisco Comesana 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (13) in five hours and 13 minutes.
"Francisco played an unbelievable match," said Berrettini, who lost in the 2021 Wimbledon final. "It was an unbelievable match, I really had to find my way (through) and I gave it everything I had."
Berrettini will face Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the round of 16.
Chile's Alejandro Tabilo moved on with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (9) victory over 17-year-old Moise Kouame of France.
Also, Italy's Matteo Arnaldi outlasted Belgium's Raphael Collignon 6-4, 6-7 (5), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (8).
Women's draw
Defending champion Coco Gauff was dramatically dethroned at the French Open by Anastasia Potapova, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka cut through the chaos to dismiss Daria Kasatkina and reach the fourth round.
After a brutal two days for fancied players at the clay court Grand Slam during which Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic crashed out, Gauff was unable to find her best level and lost 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 to fall by the wayside.
"I don't know, I had chances," Gauff said.
"Just trying to capitalise more on these good points that I was hitting and not quite finishing … that was the difference, she was able to finish points and I wasn't.
"It's one thing to lose, but today I competed, I fought my hardest, but I don't think I played the way I wanted to in the crucial moments."
Gauff's premature exit leaves four-times champion Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka as the top contenders to win the Suzanne Lenglen Cup, while Potapova will be viewed as the dark horse having dished out a massive upset.
"I'm cramping a little bit, but it's OK, it's all good. I don't have any words now, I'm extremely happy," Potapova said in her on-court interview as she clutched her right arm after two hours and 37 minutes of big hitting.
"The fight we could show … Coco's such a champion and I respect her so much. I'm unbelievably proud of myself, that I stayed there, and that I was fighting until the last point."
Sabalenka earlier beat Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5 on a sun-drenched Court Suzanne Lenglen for her 100th win as the top-ranked woman, making her only the ninth player to achieve the feat since the inception of the WTA rankings.
She joined Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Justine Henin and Swiatek in the honours list.
"I've got goosebumps," said Sabalenka, who struggled with dips in form and crippling service issues a few years ago.
"It means the world to me and I'm just happy that in the tough moments I stayed tough. I was fighting and never gave up and that is what it has brought me."
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: French Open: Zachary Svajda remembers late dad after latest win