PARIS-The defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after working in front of Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 during the Friday evening session.
The Spanish, second seeded, had never played in Dzumhur, a 33 -year -old Bosnian who had never passed the third round during a major tournament.
“I have suffered a lot today,” said Alcaraz, who has dropped two sets so far. “The first two sets were under control, then he started playing more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.”
Dzumhur injured his left knee during a fall in the second round, and followed a treatment on Friday on his right leg during the change at 3-2 in the third set. He is then lying on the ground while the coach worked on both legs for several minutes.
Then Dzumhur received cheers when he made an improbable smash despite his deadline, once again when he won the third set, and once again when he broke Alcaraz in the opening match of the fourth set.
An improbable turnaround seemed to occur while Alcaraz made clumsy errors, hitting winners of a routine aspect for a long time or forcing shots on his generally precise forehand. At one point in the fourth set, Alcaraz even looked at the frustration clay after sending a booming forehand.
But the quadruple Grand Chelem champion in simple broken in the sixth and eighth games to serve for the match.
However, the Dzumhur resilient, whose face was red with efforts and sparkled with sweat, separated to drag the suspense a little longer.
“This is why it is difficult to win the Grand Slam because you need to maintain your concentration over three or four hours,” said Alcaraz. “I did not appreciate it too much.”
Alcaraz finally won the victory on his second match point and faced the n ° 13 Ben Shelton in the fourth round.
Alcaraz leads 2-0 in career matches against Shelton, who is also 22 years old, but they never met on Clay.
“Playing the defending champion, in the round of 16, I guess that Center Court, this is a pretty cool opportunity, a fairly cool experience,” said Shelton, who will appear in the fourth round to Roland Garros after defeating Matteo Gigante 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
With the victory in five sets of Tommy Paul on the n ° 24 Karen Khachanov on Friday, and the n ° 15 Frances Tiafoe defeating n ° 23 Sebastian Korda 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-4 in an All-American match, the United States will have three men in the fourth Tour de France for the first time since 1995.
If the qualifier Ethan Quinn wins on Saturday, there would be four American men in week 2 in Paris for the first time since 1991.
Friday, in other male games, n ° 8, Lorenzo Musetti, of Italy, beat Mariano Navone and the Holger N ° 10 Rune of Denmark beat the French Quentin Halys in five sets.
N ° 25 Alexei Popyrin of Australia has also advanced.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
