Lorenzo Musetti believes Carlos Alcaraz can “probably” win Roland Garros after the pair’s fourth-round clash on Sunday in Paris. The top seed eased to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

“[He] was serving really good. We knew that [he is] probably one of the best movers on the Tour,” Musetti said. “As we know, he really likes to drop [shot] and to turn with his forehand and that [shot] is really aggressive and heavy.

“I think today he showed that he probably can win this tournament.”

The Italian entered the match having swept through the first three rounds without losing a set. The 21-year-old had also won the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting in last year’s Hamburg final.

“I think we both grew a lot since [our] last meeting in Hamburg. Of course, he won a Grand Slam, so it’s something that I think you have inside,” Musetti said. “It’s sort of a massive amount of experience that you need even to go a step forward for the level and to set new goals, to set a new life. So even that, I think it helped him to grow.”

Alcaraz has now won 11 consecutive matches at majors. He claimed his maiden title at this level at last year’s US Open and has now mostly cruised through four rounds in Paris (he missed the Australian Open due to injury).

“I think we know that he is probably the best player in the world, and at the moment it’s really tough to beat him, especially on clay,” Musetti said. “I think he grew a lot since last meeting we had in Hamburg. Today I think I didn’t show my best tennis. But, of course, I don’t want to take any [excuses] on that.

“Carlos deserved to win and deserved to pass to the quarter-finals, so I’m happy for him and for the level that he showed today.”

Musetti explained that Alcaraz is a complete player — physically, mentally and technically. He specifically called out the 20-year-old’s serve.

“[He is] probably one of the toughest players to beat for sure at the moment,” Musetti said. “So he deserves to be No. 1 in the world.”

The four remaining quarter-final places will be claimed on Monday at Roland Garros, where 2022 finalist Casper Ruud and the in-form Holger Rune headline the action in the singles draw.

ATPTour.com previews the remaining fourth-round clashes as well as the key matchups in the doubles draw on the Day 9 schedule in Paris.

[4] Casper Ruud (NOR) vs. Nicolas Jarry (CHI)

Ruud has performed somewhere near his best in his Roland Garros run so far. Despite dropping sets to Giulio Zeppieri and Zhang Zhizhen, the Norwegian’s powerful forehand has enabled him to dictate play from the baseline in performances reminiscent of his run to the final in Paris a year ago.

Nicolas Jarry will not be daunted by taking on the Norwegian, however. The Chilean defeated Ruud in three sets in the Geneva quarter-finals just 10 days ago and went on to lift the trophy at the ATP 250. That was the 27-year-old’s second tour-level title on clay this year (he also triumphed at home in Santiago), and he is now into the fourth round at a major for the first time. Can Jarry maintain his momentum against the fourth seed?

[6] Holger Rune [DEN] vs. [24] Francisco Cerundolo (ARG)

Rune looks to keep his red-hot clay-court form going in his maiden ATP Head2Head meeting with fellow big-hitting baseliner Cerundolo. The Dane has made solid progress through the draw as he tries to back up his 2022 quarter-final run, dropping one set across his two matches. The 20-year-old is now 15-3 on clay and will hope his all-around ability proves too much for Cerundolo to handle on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

The Argentine is also a man in form, however. Prior to Roland Garros, he reached the quarter-finals in Rome and a championship match in Lyon, and the 24-year-old has dropped just two sets in Paris en route to the fourth round of a major for the first time. Rune’s ability to keep the ball away from Cerundolo’s hammer forehand could be decisive.

_{^{Argentine’s Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry are both playing for a quarter-final spot on Monday. Photo: Amélie Laurin/FFT.}}

[22] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. [28] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)

Is Alexander Zverev starting to heat up on the Paris clay? The former World No. 2 faced a tough road back from the ankle injury he suffered in the 2022 semi-finals against Rafael Nadal. His comeback win in the third round against 12th seed Frances Tiafoe felt particularly significant for Zverev, who seems to be rediscovering the consistency required to prevail against the best the ATP Tour has to offer.

The 26-year-old Zverev holds a 3-1 ATP Head2Head advantage over Grigor Dimitrov heading into the pair’s fourth-round meeting in Paris. The former World No. 3 Dimitrov has only reached this stage once before at Roland Garros, but Zverev will be particularly wary of the Bulgarian’s quality coming forward to the net, which could represent a key tactic to knock the German off his rhythm.

[27] Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG)

For the second major in a row, Yoshihito Nishioka has reached the fourth round. The Japanese World No. 33 has recovered from disappointing previous results this year on the European clay with a career-best showing at the French major. His opponent on Monday, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, had not won a main-draw match at Roland Garros before this year: Who can handle the occasion and extend their personal-best run?

Doubles Action

The quarter-final action in the men’s doubles draw kicks off on Monday, when defending champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer take on Matwe Middelkoop and his partner, two-time Roland Garros winner Andreas Mies.

The winning team’s semi-final opponents will be 14th seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni or Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, who also face off on Monday. Both last-eight matchups take place on Court Simonne-Mathieu.

After a championship-match run in 2022, Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are making their mark once again at Roland Garros.

The Croatian-American pairing moved to 8-1 as a team at the clay-court major on Sunday by defeating Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 in the third round. Dodig and Krajicek let slip a 3-0 lead en route to losing the first set but clinched a late break of their opponents’ serve in both the second and third to wrap a two-hour, 59-minute triumph.

The fourth seeds will take on German duo Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the quarter-finals in Paris, after the German duo moved past Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 6-4, 7-6(4). Krawietz is a two-time champion at Roland Garros, where he lifted the trophy in 2019 and 2020 alongside Andreas Mies, who was also a third-round winner. Mies and his partner Matwe Middelkoop upset fifth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 6-4, 6-2 to book a clash against defending champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos were the other winning team in Paris on Sunday. The Spanish-Argentine pair ended the run of Marcelo Melo and John Peers with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Granollers and Zeballos are seven-time titlists as a team on the ATP Tour but are chasing their maiden major title this fortnight in the French capital.

Three-time major champion Andy Murray will clash against former World No. 19 Hyeon Chung in a blockbuster first-round match Monday at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Surbiton, Great Britain.

The grass-court contest adds to Murray’s numerous encounters against star players on the Challenger Tour in the last month. At the Challenger 175 event in Aix-en-Provence, Murray ousted Gael Monfils and World No. 17 Tommy Paul en route to his first title at any level since 2019. The former World No. 1 also battled against three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka at the Bordeaux Challenger, where the Swiss earned a straight-sets victory.

The second seed Murray, who received a wild card into the Surbiton Challenger, will meet Chung for the first time. The 27-year-old Chung is competing in just his third tournament since returning from a back injury he suffered in 2020. A semi-finalist at the 2018 Australian Open, Chung suffered a loss in the opening round of both the Seoul and Busan Challengers in April and May, respectively.

A strong field at this week’s Lexus Surbiton Trophy also features World No. 25 Daniel Evans and American Mackenzie McDonald.

Watch Andy Murray vs. Hyeon Chung (Third match on Centre Court Monday)

Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday set a blockbuster quarter-final showdown at Roland Garros against Carlos Alcaraz when he breezed past Austrian Sebastian Ofner.

After Alcaraz displayed imperious form earlier in the day against Lorenzo Musetti, Tsitsipas responded with a statement performance of his own, losing serve just once en route to a 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 victory.

Ofner put up resistance early and appeared poised to push his favoured opponent to a first-set tie-break. But when the Austrian missed a forehand wide on set point, Tsitsipas seized the opportunity to surge ahead.

The Greek hit 27 winners to just 12 unforced errors in the one-hour, 48-minute clash. He has not lost a set since the first round against Jiri Vesely.

The fifth seed has reached at least the quarter-finals in three of his past four appearances at the clay-court major. The 24-year-old has played his best tennis at the majors this season, having also advanced to the final of the Australian Open.

Tsitsipas will try to overturn an 0-4 ATP Head2Head record against Alcaraz in the last eight. Just a month and a half ago, the Spaniard defeated the Greek 6-3, 6-4 in the Barcelona final.

Ofner enjoyed the best tournament of his career by reaching the fourth round at a major for the first time. The Austrian was trying to become the first qualifier to make the last eight at Roland Garros since Marcelo Filippini in 1999.

The 27-year-old is up to No. 80 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He will crack the world’s Top 100 for the first time the Monday after Roland Garros, when the newest edition of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is released.

Father and son are reunited.

Former World No. 55 Bryan Shelton announced on Friday he is stepping down from his role as head men’s tennis coach at the University of Florida. Having led a women’s team (Georgia Tech, 2007) and men’s team (Florida, 2021) to national championships, he will embark on a new journey — coaching son Ben Shelton on the ATP Tour.

“The dream team is back together baby‼️” Ben wrote on Instagram. “Can’t wait to have you out on tour with me, and see what we can accomplish together.”

 

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Bryan’s overwhelming feeling at the moment is gratitude. After his professional career, the American has become one of the most respected coaches in college tennis and even coached Ben for two years, during which the Florida Gators won the national championship as a team and Ben captured singles glory.

Now Bryan is thrilled to join his 20-year-old son on the road for his own professional journey.

“Thankful that I have another opportunity that’s really exciting that’s about to get started,” Bryan told ATPTour.com. “I feel like a little bit of a kid again. At this stage in life, to be able to start something new and fresh and exciting is incredible. So I think that those are the things that are probably pouring out of me right now. Just gratitude and excitement.”

According to Bryan, Ben has intimated over the past year since turning professional that he would like to one day have his father by his side.

“I think in his mind, he’s always thought that ultimately, we’d be able to do this together,” Bryan said. “We started together on the court and I think we’ve kind of built that coach-player relationship through the years as we continue to build our own relationship as father-son. And those two kind of went side by side along the way.

“I always said, I had to put one hat on and take the other hat off, and then kind of understanding when to do both is a little bit tricky, because you hear about these stories with mother and daughter, father and son, mother and son, these stories that end up not being great stories. And so, my wife, Lisa, and I, we’ve really tried to have a balance with our kids and understand that they’re people first before they’re players.

“I think that along the way, I’ve put my coach hat on and to be able to do both still and for him to want me to come out there with him and help him in this area and share these experiences together, I think that speaks to the love that we have for one another and also the level of respect that we have for one another.”

Many professional tennis players travel internationally in the juniors. But Shelton did not step outside the United States until the beginning of this season in Adelaide. The lefty also began his clay-court season having never competed on red clay. Ben played football as a kid — he was a quarterback — and did not fully focus on tennis until later on.

“Oh my goodness. That’s probably one of the most exciting parts of Ben. His potential is, in my opinion, limitless, because he hasn’t really scratched the surface,” Bryan said. “I just feel like he’s so many hours shy of someone else his age that’s playing at that level. They’ve logged a lot more hours, they’ve experienced a lot more situations on a lot more surfaces, and they’ve played around the globe for years prior, and he’s having to catch up on those experiences.

“But where he lacks experience, he has just a passion and a desire and a work ethic and some other intangible things that have allowed him to start catching up. But there’s still so much room for growth.”

Ben has been mentored on the road by Dean Goldfine, the former coach of many stars including Aaron Krickstein, Todd Martin, Andy Roddick and Sebastian Korda, whom Bryan expressed a lot of gratitude for. But the former college coach has missed experiencing Ben’s early moments on Tour while home in Florida coaching the Gators.

“That would be 100 per cent of the time,” Bryan said when asked how often he has wished he could have been alongside his son. “I always said I wish I could have perfected that trick where you can be in two places at one time.”

Ben’s biggest breakthrough came earlier this year at the Australian Open, where he advanced to the quarter-finals on his tournament debut.

“You want to be there for those those big firsts in your life and your kids’ lives,” Bryan said. “To miss that one was pretty tough, but just so happy for him and for how he’s handled himself and everything else. So we’re very proud at the same time and to see him be able to do that with the help of others out there with them was very rewarding as well.”

Ben summed up his father’s impact on the world of college tennis.

“This isn’t a career that’s defined by championships and accolades, but by the people impacted and lives changed,” Ben wrote on Instagram. “You showed up to work every day and gave a perfect effort. You did things with character and humility no matter the situation. You’ve kept your faith wherever your life has taken you, and always put your family first. There isn’t a better role model for young men trying to find their way in life.”