World No.104 will meet fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini in the quarterfinals
Matteo Arnaldi conjured up yet another five-set epic to book his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final under the lights on a lively Court Suzanne-Lenglen at gone 1am.
The 25-year-old required a match tiebreak to down Raphael Collignon in the previous round and hauled No.19 seed Frances Tiafoe 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 to earn the world No.104 an elite eight encounter with fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini.
In doing so, Arnaldi has spent a tournament-leading 17 hours and 42 minutes and counting on court this fortnight.
“I don’t know how I’m standing here to be honest,” said a jubilant Arnaldi. “We live to play these matches. I always dreamed to play matches like this, at Roland-Garros, at night, in these battles against someone like Frances.
“I think at one point it wasn’t tennis, it was just something else, you just played with everything you had. There had to be a winner and fortunately it was me tonight.
“This is definitely the best match I ever played.”
The supremely athletic 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.
Time for Arnaldi to spark a comeback.
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.
The crowd burst into celebration, while Arnaldi and Tiafoe shared a hug, acknowledging a battle they will both remember for a very long time.
As a result, 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.
ROLAND-GARROS
18 May - 7 June 2026
