June 01, (THEWILL) – Jannik Sinner, the eighth seed at the French Open, suffered a stunning second-round 6-7 7-6 1-6 7-6 7-5 defeat at the hands of Daniel Altmaier.
In an epic five-set battle lasting an exhausting five long hours and 26 minutes, Altmaier, ranked 79th in the world, emerged victorious on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. The length of time it took to get a winner means the French Open second round match now stands as the fifth longest in the history of Roland-Garros.
The tone for the match was set early on, with both players pushing each other to the limits. Sinner managed to clinch the first set in a tie-break, but Altmaier fought back and won the second set, also in a tie-break. However, Sinner turned on the extra burners to completely dominate the third set, which he took 6-1.
Interestingly, when it looked like Sinner had got back into the form to advance to the next round, Altmaier snatched the fourth set tie-break even though he surrendered two match points in the process. The challenger had done enough to push the lengthening match into the final set.
In that decisive fifth set, Altmaier broke Sinner and saved three break points in an intense final game before converting his fifth match point to secure the victory for one of the massive upsets in the ongoing clay Grand Slam.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
