Three Italians reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, an unprecedented feat at a Grand Slam . And to think that the best players were missing: the injured Lorenzo Musetti, who missed this tournament, and world number one Jannik Sinner, knocked out by illness just shy of victory in his second-round match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

At 1am Matteo Arnaldi (number 104 in the world, coming back from a dark period due to a foot injury that caused him to slip in the rankings) completed the hat-trick, defeating the American Frances Tiafoe, number 22 in the world, at the end of an epic comeback after 5 hours and 26 minutes of play .

The Ligurian tennis player won with a score of 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 . The match was already lost in the fourth set, when Tiafoe was ahead 4-1 and 40-15 on his own serve, and served for the match at 5-4.

An epic comeback takes Arnaldi to the quarterfinals, where he'll face Matteo Berrettini , who defeated Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6, 7-6. The third Italian in the quarterfinals is Flavio Cobolli, who defeated American Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 and will face Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime , world number 6. Both matches will be played tomorrow, Wednesday, June 3.

(Unioneonline/L)

© Riproduzione riservata