Paris, June 2 (IANS) Matteo Arnaldi conjured up yet another five-set epic at French Open as he staged a remarkable comeback to outlast Fancis Tiafoe to book his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.

The 25-year-old hauled No.19 seed American the distance in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The gripping 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 clash spanned five hours and 26 minutes.

The Italian has now spent an astonishing 17 hours and 42 minutes to reach the Roland Garros quarter-finals, one hour and 58 minutes longer than any other player has taken to make the quarter-finals at any Grand Slam tournament since the ATP Tour began recording match times in 1991.

The duo split the opening sets, before the American pulled clear with some devastating tennis combining finesse and power.Tiafoe appeared destined for back-to-back Roland-Garros quarterfinals by building a 4-1 double break lead in the fourth set.

Into the tiebreak and the 25-year-old’s front-foot play was making the difference during a series of high-octane exchanges. Arnaldi even went airborne to strike a piercing backhand down the line and moments later had earned a decider.

Arnaldi was in free flow by this stage and a series of firecracker groundstrokes yielded a commanding 4-2 advantage. Tiafoe would dig deep again with a whipped forehand the standout strike to level at 4-4 with the match clock ticking over five hours.

It was pure cinema. Tiafoe fell not once, but twice, in one rally alone, with Arnaldi stealing back the momentum and eventually converting his third match point.

Arnaldi will next play fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini. Notably, Arnaldi, alongside Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli, become the first Italian trio in the Open era to reach the men’s singles quarterfinals at the same Grand Slam.

The most recent occurrence came at the Australian Open in January, when Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti and Luciano Darderi all reached the fourth round.

–IANS

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