Roland-Garros: Tsitsipas disappoints again after falling to Gigante

Italian qualifier Matteo Gigante reached the third round of Roland-Garros by edging out Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 20 seed, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 at Roland-Garros in Paris on Wednesday afternoon.

 Tsitsipas has fallen to No. 25 in the rankings and is set to drop out of the Top 20 for the first time since August 2018. The Greek has only won two matches during the four latest major tournaments he played, the latest against Tomas Martin Etcheverry (7-5, 6-3, 6-4) in the previous round. He has failed to advance beyond the fourth round in seven of the past eight majors he has played.

“I expected bigger things from myself these two weeks,” said Tsitsipas, who also lost in the second round in 2018. “I seemed to be playing immature sometimes during the match. I wasn’t fully present in the moment. So I would describe that (as) immaturity, not knowing how to handle those situations.”

Tsitsipas : “he did exceptionally well”

Tsitsipas also praised Gigante for his qualities. “That’s a tricky thing when you have to face an opponent that you don’t know much about, the 2021 French Open runner-up replied. “I’m sure he kind of went into the match not expecting too much of himself. I think it’s quite normal. He might have felt prepared and ready to take on the match and take on the difficult task of having to, I guess, play me.”

“I think he did that exceptionally well. He handled the pressure moments very well. Played mature tennis. But on the other hand, I also have to obviously give credit to him, because he made me reach that stage too.”

Matteo Gigante is the first Roland Garros qualifier to beat a former finalist in the men’s singles event since Eduardo Schwank beat Carlos Moya in 2008.

Gigante, ranked No 167, will face American Ben Shelton, the No 13 seed, next. Ahead of his victory, the Italian won against Lebanese qualifier Benjamin Hassan (6-4, 6-2, 6-0).

Paris (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 56.352.000, most recent results first):

• Gael Monfils vs. Jack Draper
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Filip Misolic
• Jacob Fearnley vs. Ugo Humbert
• Corentin Moutet vs. Novak Djokovic
• Cameron Norrie vs. Federico Agustin Gomez
• Joao Fonseca vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert
• Alexander Shevchenko vs. Ethan Quinn
• Gabriel Diallo vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Flavio Cobolli vs. Matteo Arnaldi
• Jannik Sinner vs. Richard Gasquet
• Andrey Rublev vs. Adam Walton
• Alexander Zverev vs. Jesper De Jong
• Henrique Rocha vs. Jakub Mensik
• Alex De Minaur vs. Alexander Bublik
• Jaume Munar vs. Arthur Fils
• Jiri Lehecka vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Ben Shelton vs. Hugo Gaston
• Emilio Nava vs. Holger Rune
• Frances Tiafoe vs. Pablo Carreno Busta
• Jenson Brooksby vs. Sebastian Korda: wednesday
• Marton Fucsovics vs. Tommy Paul: wednesday
• Damir Dzumhur beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (31): 7-6 (4), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
• Carlos Alcaraz (2) beat Fabian Marozsan: 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
• Karen Khachanov (24) beat Sebastian Ofner: 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
• Nuno Borges beat Casper Ruud (7): 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0
• Quentin Halys beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-5
• Mariano Navone beat Reilly Opelka: 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-3
• Alexei Popyrin (25) beat Alejandro Tabilo: 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
• Daniel Altmaier beat Vit Kopriva: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Hamad Medjedovic beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
• Lorenzo Musetti (8) beat Daniel Elahi Galan (LL): 6-4, 6-0, 6-4