Third-seeded Alcaraz defeated 27th seed Korda, 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3, to reach the fourth round at Roland-Garros for the third straight year, and for the eighth consecutive Grand Slam tournament.
Story of the match
Since his only prior loss to Korda, on the clay courts of Monte Carlo in 2022, Alcaraz hadn’t lost a set against him. But for a brief period on Friday night, it looked like he might do so.
The pair traded breaks to start the match, and Korda stayed ahead on serve from there on for much of it until Alcaraz won the last three games, and the set’s final six points. The American also came back from an early break behind in set two, saved three break points at a critical 3-3 game, and forced Alcaraz to serve to stay in the set twice.
Alcaraz did so with aplomb, twice holding to 15, and eked out the eventual tie-break despite falling behind by a mini-break early on.
Roland-Garros marks the only major in which Korda has yet to play a five-set match, and there were no such ideas on Alcaraz’s mind as the clock struck 23:00. He lost just three points on serve in the final frame and won three straight games from 1-1 to stamp his final authority on the contest.
The win also improved Alcaraz to 34-0 against players ranked outside the top 20 in Grand Slam events since a loss to then-No.42 Jan-Lennard Struff at Roland Garros in 2021.