Good afternoon and welcome to our live blog of French Open men’s fourth round action. Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger Aliassime will be on court soon after 1pm. That will be sooner than they might have been expecting: they are third on court Philippe-Chatrier today (!) but Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff both absolutely devoured their respective opponents in the day’s earlier matches.
Swiatek battered Anastasia Potapova of Russia 6-0, 6-0 and bear in mind that AP is ranked 43 in the world so hardly a competition winner. Or any sort of winner, on today’s showing. Gauff then wiped the floor with Elisabetta Cocciaretto, the Italian number two, losing only three games in the process. Prior to the match, Cocciaretto said: “Italians, we were born on clay. It’s different for the other players, from China and the United States, who were born on hardcourts. For us, it’s not a comfort zone but our surface.” Womp-womp.
All of which means than Senor Alcaraz will be in action shortly. He seems in fine fettle. He showed steely resolve in his most convincing match at the French Open this year for a 6-4 7-6(5) 6-3 victory over American Sebastian Korda in his last match.
Still wearing a compression sleeve after a recent forearm issue, Alcaraz produced a stellar show in a rematch of the duo’s 2022 encounter to firmly put himself back in the conversation as the favourite to lift the title in Paris and a third major.
“I feel amazing, feel great playing on this court. Obviously I have great memories here,” Alcaraz said.
“Great matches I’ve played before. I’m feeling better and better every match I play. The crowd was amazing. Every day it’s even better. I’m excited to play in the second week in Paris again. Hopefully I’ll keep going.”
