No.3 seed stages repeat of 2022 night session defeat of American to move into last 16
©️Julien Crosnier / FFTTwo years ago nearly to the day, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Sebastian Korda at night on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the Roland-Garros third round, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
On Friday, a more competitive rematch took place – with the same outcome, in a match the Spaniard confessed had him "feeling more like himself."
Third-seeded Alcaraz defeated 27th seed Korda, 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3, to reach the fourth round at Roland-Garros for the third straight year, and for the eighth consecutive Grand Slam tournament.
Since his only prior loss to Korda, on the clay courts of Monte Carlo in 2022, Alcaraz hadn’t lost a set against him. But for a brief period on Friday night, it looked like he might do so.
The pair traded breaks to start the match, and Korda stayed ahead on serve from there on for much of it until Alcaraz won the last three games, and the set’s final six points. The American also came back from an early break behind in set two, saved three break points at a critical 3-3 game, and forced Alcaraz to serve to stay in the set twice.
Alcaraz did so with aplomb, twice holding to 15, and eked out the eventual tie-break despite falling behind by a mini-break early on.
Roland-Garros marks the only major in which Korda has yet to play a five-set match, and there were no such ideas on Alcaraz’s mind as the clock struck 23:00. He lost just three points on serve in the final frame and won three straight games from 1-1 to stamp his final authority on the contest.
The win also improved Alcaraz to 34-0 against players ranked outside the top 20 in Grand Slam events since a loss to then-No.42 Jan-Lennard Struff at Roland Garros in 2021.
Korda did well to earn the opportunities he did in the first two sets, particularly in the face of Alcaraz’s performance in the rallies.
The No.3 seed hit 38 winners (Korda totalled just 20) to 27 unforced errors (Korda had 40), and landed 78 per cent of his first serves. Needing time to get into full flow on that shot might not come as a surprise: Alcaraz later confirmed to former Roland-Garros champion Mats Wilander in his on-court interview that he’s made some tweaks to his first shot and service motion.
Out of rhythm from the back of the court, Korda made a concerted effort to come forward, but found little success when he did so. The American won only 23 of the 42 points played when he found his way to the net, getting passed on more than one occasion by pinpoint strikes by the Spaniard from the baseline.
©️Julien Crosnier / FFTOn the level he showed in victory: “It was a really good match. I think I played really, really, well, much better than the previous match. This was something that I really want: to get in the rally, to play good points, feeling [like] myself on the court, and I think I did that really well.”
On whether or not he was concerned about Korda: “I know my skills, but obviously, Sebastian is a great player, a really good ball striker. He hits the ball really clear. It’s difficult to play against him, so I had to run a lot, side to side. It was like a marathon for me today, but I wasn’t worried at all, because I know what I’m capable of … and that it’s really difficult for him as well.”
ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
