Matteo Arnaldi outlasts Frances Tiafoe in 5-set instant classic in Paris

Matteo Arnaldi pulled off an incredible comeback to take down No. 19 seed Frances Tiafoe in five sets on Monday and place three Italians in the quarterfinals of the French Open.

Arnaldi defeated Tiafoe 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the final match of the night in Paris. At five hours and 26 minutes, it was the second-longest match of this year's tournament.

No. 10 seed Flavio Cobolli and unseeded Matteo Berrettini won earlier in the day, and Arnaldi's victory sets up an all-Italian quarterfinal clash with Berrettini. Meanwhile, Tiafoe was the final American alive in either the men's or women's singles draw, so the U.S. was shut out of the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

Arnaldi fired 18 aces among his 74 winners and had more in the tank for the fifth set than Tiafoe, although the American still pulled off a few incredible shots in desperation mode.

"I don't know how I'm standing here, to be honest," Arnaldi said in his on-court interview. "I played so much in this tournament. ... It's a dream, to be honest, to be here."

The 25-year-old, who qualified for his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, recounted how he'd gotten to this point: a four-set, four-hour win over No. 29 seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands; another four-setter to take down Greek veteran Stefanos Tsitsipas; and a five-setter that was two minutes shy of the five-hour mark to defeat Belgium's Raphael Collignon in the third round.

"Today in the third set, I was so tired," Arnaldi said as applause broke out for him. "But you know, we live to play these matches, and I always dreamed to play a match here at Roland Garros at night like this, these battles, against someone like Frances. I think at one point, it wasn't tennis, it was just something else. You were just playing with everything you had.

"This is definitely the best match I've ever played."

Each player broke twice during the first set, and both held narrow leads in the tiebreaker before Arnaldi prevailed. Tiafoe squandered a 5-3 lead in the second set but rebounded to force another tiebreaker, this time taking it by winning four of the final five points.

Tiafoe won the third set and was firmly in control, going up a double break in the fourth before serving for the match at 5-4. Instead, Arnaldi played terrific defense and broke Tiafoe on his second opportunity of that game. Arnaldi raced out to a 3-0 lead in the match's third tiebreaker and didn't look back.

Down 4-2 in the fifth set, Tiafoe found a new gear one more time, breaking Arnaldi in the eighth game to level it thanks to some precise forehands. Arnaldi responded by running the table in the ninth game to break him back.

The last three matches Tiafoe played in Paris were five-setters; he went the distance to beat Poland's Hubert Hurkacz and Portugal's Jaime Faria. He played 19 sets over four rounds, while Arnaldi played 18.

The Arnaldi-Berrettini quarterfinal will pit the 104th-ranked player in the world, Arnaldi, against No. 105. Earlier in the day, Berrettini became the lowest-ranked man to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals since Russian Igor Andreev (No. 125) in 2007.

Berrettini reached his seventh major quarterfinal -- but his first since 2022 -- with a 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) defeat of Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo. Berrettini, who peaked as high as No. 6 in the world rankings, is competing in his first French Open since 2021 due to a series of injuries.

"(Tennis) is the love of my life, because if it wasn't I wouldn't be here," Berrettini said in his on-court interview. "After all the setbacks, all the injuries, all the bad moments, I came back once again. There were moments where it was really tough to go back and hit the ball, because I wasn't ready and sure of my confidence."

Fourth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the French Open quarterfinals for the first time in dominant fashion, beating Chile's Alejandro Tabilo 6-3, 7-5, 6-1.

Things have seemingly gotten easier for the 25-year-old as the tournament has progressed. He battled through a five-set win in the first round and won in four sets in the second and third before tallying his first sweep in the fourth round.

Auger-Aliassime was dominant on his serve to beat Tabilo, pairing 17 aces with just two double faults while winning 72.7% of his service points and saving all three break points he faced. He also converted 5 of 6 break-point opportunities on Tabilo's serve.

"I'm so happy," Auger-Aliassime said, in French, in his on-court interview. "It's a childhood dream to even play here. I came here for the first time when I was maybe 12 and it's always been a dream to play here. I'm not French. ... But I feel at home. Thank you to everyone."

Auger-Aliassime, whose two deepest Slam runs came in the 2021 and 2025 U.S. Opens where he reached the semifinals, is the highest seed remaining on the top half of the bracket.

He'll face Cobolli, who ended American Zachary Svadja's surprise run with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5) victory.

Cobolli, who had swept through his first three matches, finally lost a set but rallied to also make his first French Open quarterfinal behind 57 winners and seven converted breaks in 17 opportunities.

--Field Level Media