Sunday, December 22, 2024

French Open day 10 preview: Carlos Alcaraz ‘will ignite flame’ for Stefanos Tsitsipas – BBC Sport

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Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Alcaraz (left) beat Tsitsipas (right) 6-2 6-1 7-6 (7-5) in the quarter-finals of the French Open last year

Stefanos Tsitsipas says his French Open quarter-final with Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday will “ignite my internal flame”.

Third seed Alcaraz beat Tsitsipas in straight sets in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros 12 months ago.

The Greek ninth seed has lost all of his previous five meetings with two-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz.

“Playing against Carlos will ignite my internal flame. I want to go out and show everyone what I’ve achieved.”

The pair will meet in the night session at Roland Garros from 19:15 BST.

Tsitsipas is searching for his first Grand Slam title, having lost to Novak Djokovic in the finals of the French Open and Australian Open in 2021 and 2023 respectively.

Alcaraz is targeting his first French Open crown, having won the US Open in 2022 and Wimbledon last summer.

The winner will meet either Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner or 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals.

Tuesday’s quarter-final will be Sinner’s first appearance in the last eight since 2020.

His opponent Dimitrov is currently on his best run in Paris and, like Sinner, is bidding for a first Roland Garros semi-final appearance.

Three Grand Slam champions in action in women’s draw

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Swiatek’s fourth-round win was the second shortest completed match at Roland Garros after Steffi Graf’s 32-minute triumph over Natasha Zvereva in the 1988 final

In the women’s draw, three different Grand Slam winners will take to the court in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Iga Swiatek, winner of three of the past four French Open titles as well as the US Open in 2022, takes on Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.

Top seed Swiatek is in formidable form, having needed just 40 minutes to beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0 6-0 in the last round.

Czech fifth seed Vondrousova has also experienced success at this stage at Roland Garros, having reached the final here in 2019.

However, she has lost all three of her past meetings with Swiatek, including on the Paris clay in 2020.

US Open champion Coco Gauff opens play against three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur from 10:00 BST.

Gauff is a former French Open finalist, having been beaten by Swiatek two years ago.

Jabeur, seeded eighth, is hoping to make the semi-finals at Paris for the first time.

Hewett hopes for 28th major

Three Britons will begin their French Open campaign in the men’s and women’s wheelchair singles on Monday.

The 27-time Grand Slam winner Alfie Hewett is the top seed, with defending champion Tokito Oda of Japan seeded second in this year’s men’s singles.

Hewett takes on Belgium’s Joachim Gerard in the round of 16 on court 12.

Fellow Briton Gordon Reid, a 23-time major winner, is unseeded and takes on Frenchman Stephane Houdet on court 13.

Should both British players win, they will meet each other in the next round.

In the women’s singles, Briton’s Lucy Shuker faces China’s Ziying Wang on court 11. Shuker reached the semi-finals in 2007.

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