Matteo Berrettini, message to Jannik Sinner after victory

Matteo Berrettini beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo and for the second time in his career made it to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros: a renaissance for the Roman tennis player, who will face in the next round one between Tiafoe and Arnaldi and dreams big given the simultaneous absence of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in the latter stages of the tournament.

The Azzurro beat Cerundolo, the Argentine who had eliminated Sinner after the world number one’s physical collapse in the second round: it is precisely to the South Tyrolean Berrettini wants to dedicate a thought. “Jannik won so many tournaments from before, he was the one who was not normal. This is a step back, but he will come back stronger. The scoreboard is full of strong players like Zverev, Cobolli, Mensik. I think about myself and I want to enjoy this victory.”

Berrettini feels in great shape: “I feel great, I’m happy. Thank you so much for the support. That’s why we train and fight. That’s why I’m here enjoying this atmosphere. Tennis is the love of my life, otherwise I wouldn’t be here after all the injuries and bad times. Thanks to those people there, I didn’t give up. There were moments where it was hard, I didn’t have confidence.”

Berrettini is not the only Italian to make people dream in this Roland Garros: Flavio Cobolli also made it to the quarterfinals, beating U.S. Zachary Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(5) in three hours and 19 minutes of play on the Court Philippe-Chatrier. For the Roman, world number 14, this is the second Slam quarterfinal of his career after the one he reached at Wimbledon in 2025. Cobolli will face the winner of the match between Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and Chilean Alejandro Tabilo. In the evening it will be the turn of another Azzurro, Matteo Arnaldi, who will face Frances tiafoe for a place in the quarterfinals.