Carlos Alcaraz impressively reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros on Sunday. American Ben Shelton made the Spanish world number two falter for one set, but that was it: 6-7 (8), 3-6, 6-4, and 4-6.
After 3 hours and 20 minutes, Alcaraz converted his second match point. The titleholder had a tough time with Shelton but showed his best tennis at the most important moments.
From moment one, the audience was on the edge of their seats. Shelton and Alcaraz treated some 10,000 visitors to beautiful rallies, fine dropshots, and extremely hard shots.
The “oohs” and “aahs” were heard several times around the gravel in Paris. In the first set, it was evenly matched for a long time. Both the 22-year-old Alcaraz and his peer Shelton did not give away a service game.
Shelton Makes Alcaraz Falter
In the decisive tiebreak, the American missed three set points, after which Alcaraz took the set at his second set point. The four-time Grand Slam winner took that confidence into the second set, where he broke Shelton for the first time at a score of 3-4 and served out the set.
In the third set, the initiative was with Shelton, who surprised Alcaraz with three aces and converted two break chances. Alcaraz was stuck on one converted break and had to concede the set to Shelton.
That was it for the world number 13. In the fourth set, Alcaraz placed an early break, which he did not relinquish. In the quarter-finals, Alcaraz will face the American Tommy Paul, who eliminated Australian Alexei Popyrin earlier in the day.