The Coupe des Mousquetaires continues to elude Jannik Sinner, halted by Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round at Roland Garros as he struggled with the heat on Thursday in Paris.
Men's world number one Jannik Sinner saw his quest to complete the Career Grand Slam by lifting a maiden French Open trophy slip through his fingers on Thursday at the hands of world No. 56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
āI was a little bit lucky,ā Cerundolo outlined courtside. āI feel sorry for him ā he was serving to win the match.ā
The Argentine clinched the biggest win of his career by coming back from two sets down to secure a 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 victory in a dramatic three-hour, 36-minute second-round encounter.
The Italian player led the match 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 when he began to experience physical issues.
At 5-4, he was serving for the match, but following a brief discussion with the chair umpire, the 24-year-old left the court to receive treatment.
As play resumed, he surrendered his serve and from there his adversary won four love games in a row to set the level at 5-5, ultimately taking the third set 7-5.
Physically diminished, the four-time major champion returned to Philippe-Chatrier, still fighting, still hoping to get himself out of trouble as he did many times before under similar circumstances.
But despite taking an early 2-1 lead, Cerundolo had other ideas in mind and, seizing his chances, he outplayed his rival to seal the fourth set 6-1, forcing a decider.
With obvious difficulty in moving, the top seed tried to keep the points short, but nothing seemed to work in his favor as the struggles continued and the Buenos Aires native held his nerve, breaking to take the early lead in the fifth set.
In control, the lefty converted a double break en route to wrapping up the set 6-1 and the match, winning 18 of the final 20 games to achieve the third round at a Slam for the first time.
During his post-match press conference, Sinner commented: "I didn't feel very well on court, but it can happen. I was in a good spot in the third set, but I couldn't serve it out.
"Fourth set, I let it go a little bit, trying to have a bit more energy in the fifth. Very important game, the first one. Couldn't hold. Then it went a bit downwards."
Speaking about his rival, he asserted, "Congrats to him, I don't want to take anything away from him; he played a very solid match, especially in the end, and that's the sport."
When asked about the physical issues during the contest, the No. 1 Italian said he started to feel dizzy and "didn't have a lot of energy", failing to serve for the match.
Moreover, he revealed that he didn't sleep well, stressing, āI woke up this morning, didn't feel very well, and tried to keep the points very short.
"Also in the beginning, I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I just kind of hit the wall, and that's it.ā
The San Candido native said it is most likely he won't play any tournament on grass before Wimbledon, taking time off to recover completely, physically and mentally.
An impressive 30-match winning streak comes to an end, while the 24-year-old Argentine player heads into uncharted territory at a major.
He will square off against Spaniard Martin Landaluce, who rallied through five sets to overpower Czech Vit Kopriva.
They have never played one another before their third-round meeting in Paris.