It took until the fourth round, but now it’s the high-seeded men who are exiting at Roland Garros.
No.2 Daniil Medvedev bowed out with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 loss to No.20 Marin Cilic in a matchup between two past US Open champions at Court Philippe Chatrier.
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“That was one of the best matches of my career, from start to finish,” Cilic said after the win.
Medvedev joins No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, last year’s runner-up, on the way out of the bracket. Tsitsipas lost to unseeded 19-year-old Dane Holger Rune.
While only three of the top 10 women’s seeds got to the round of 32 at this year’s tournament, all of the top 12 men did. And all of the top eight men were in the fourth round.
Medvedev is the reigning US Open champion but had been 0-4 at Roland Garros until getting to the quarter finals a year ago. This time, he won every set he played until running into Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, who is now into his third quarter final in 16 appearances in Paris.
Cilic’s next opponent is No.7 Andrey Rublev. They will play each other on Wednesday night, with a semi final spot at stake.
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The lopsided draw will ultimately give one of the more unfancied chances a spot in the final at Roland-Garros.
Rune capped off a stunning year to date to advance to the final four after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas, who lost a huge opportunity to capitalise on the weaker side of the draw.
It caps off a stunning few months for Rune, who gained his first win over a player ranked in the top five when he defeated Alexander Zverev at the Munich Open in April.
He will play Norway’s Casper Ruud after the 23-year-old defeated Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The winner of Cilic v Rublev will face off with the winner of Rune v Ruud, while the champion at Roland-Garros this year has been tipped to come from the other side, with Djokovic, Nadal, Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz all vying for a spot in the final.
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