Daniel Altmaier screamed his joy and was celebrated for the sensation in a big tennis drama. The 24-year-old reached the third round at the French Open in a five-set thriller against Italian title contender Jannik Sinner. After 5:26 hours he made the 6: 7 (0: 7), 7: 6 (9: 7), 1: 6, 7: 6 (7: 4), 7: 5 perfect with an ace.
After repelling two match points in the fourth round, Altmaier achieved one of the greatest successes of his career. It was a similar coup to 2020, when he defeated the highly rated Italian Matteo Berrettini and reached the round of 16 in a Grand Slam for the only time in his career. Against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow it is now up to him to reach the round of 16.
Also eliminated peacefully
Shortly before, Anna-Lena Friedsam failed as the last German starter in the women’s competition in the second round. The 29-year-old from Andernach lost to the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrowa after just 62 minutes 2:6, 0:6 and largely had no chance. Previously, Jule Niemeier and Tatjana Maria had already left at the start.
Altmaier started stable and was at times 4:3 ahead with a break. After losing the tie-break to zero, he had the middle finger of his left hand treated longer. The ice therapy helped, and Altmaier, with strong nerves, converted the fifth chance to win the second set with an overhead ball after more than two hours.
Sinner seemed vulnerable, but initially turned up the heat. In just 27 minutes, Altmaier saw the third set gone. Altmaier emphasized before the game that he did not see his only second second-round game as a bonus. “If that were a reward, I wouldn’t need to go out on the pitch.”
And he continued to show great fighting spirit in the fourth round. But again the world number 79. not taking advantage of a break. Altmaier fended off the first match ball with a net scooter and saved himself again in the tie-break. There he got the set with a fine volley stop – this round alone lasted 90 minutes. In the fifth round he served to victory with a score of 5:4, suddenly his nerves were trembling. But again he took the serve from Sinner – and was ultimately allowed to celebrate.
