Paris : Coco Gauff thought she was about to head out on the court to play her second-round match at the French Open. “I was probably about 70% done with my warmup,” last year’s runner-up at Roland Garros would say later.
In the contest preceding hers in Court Suzanne Lenglen on Thursday, No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner was serving for the victory while up 5-4 in the fourth set against Daniel Altmaier.
Then Sinner was one point away. Except he couldn’t convert that match point — he had a chance for a putaway overhead, and instead basically sent the ball right at Altmaier, whose forehand in response hit the top of the net tape and fluttered past Sinner — or another that arrived soon after.
They would play on for another 1 hour, 43 minutes, until Altmaier finally cashed in his own fifth match point with a 111 mph ace down the middle to seal the 6-7 (0), 7-6 (7), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 victory.
After the delay, the 19-year-old American ended up beating Julia Grabher 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour, 8 minutes. Next for Gauff will be a third-round matchup on Saturday against 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva of Russia.
Today Friday, Court Philippe Chatrier will feature some of the sport’s top players as the third round wraps up: Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula. Over on Lenglen, No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the French Open runner-up in 2021, faces Diego Schwartzman, while No. 7 Andrey Rublev plays Lorenzo Sonego.
Peyton Stearns, a 21-year-old American who won the NCAA title for the University of Texas last year, will try to knock off No. 9 seed Daria Kasatkina, a semifinalist a year ago.