{"id":21005,"date":"2026-06-02T16:41:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/02\/even-without-sinner-italy-still-has-three-men-in-french-open-quarterfinals-newsday\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T16:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:41:21","slug":"even-without-sinner-italy-still-has-three-men-in-french-open-quarterfinals-newsday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/02\/even-without-sinner-italy-still-has-three-men-in-french-open-quarterfinals-newsday\/","title":{"rendered":"Even without Sinner, Italy still has three men in French Open quarterfinals – Newsday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italy's Matteo Berrettini reacts during the fourth-round tennis match against Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo at the French Open in Paris, Monday, June 1, 2026. Credit: AP\/Thibault Camus
PARIS \u2014 Top-ranked Jannik Sinner was stunned in the French Open second round. Lorenzo Musetti, a semifinalist in 2025, didn\u2019t make it back to Paris this year due to an injury.
Still, three Italian men have reached the last eight this year for the first time: Matteo Berrettini will play Matteo Arnaldi in the night session on Wednesday \u2014 which ensures at least one Italian in the semifinals \u2014 and Flavio Cobolli will meet Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime in another quarterfinal in the same half of the draw.
\u201cIt\u2019s just good for Italian tennis,\u201d Berrettini said.
Cobolli had never won a match on a center court at a Grand Slam until be beat American player Learner Tien in straight sets in the third round at Roland Garros. But he had already learned to play in a big spotlight in November when he won the decisive point for Italy third successive Davis Cup title at home in Bologna.
\u201cThe Davis Cup helped me handle the pressure in matches where there\u2019s a lot on the line,\u201d Cobolli said.
Tuesday is Italy\u2019s National Day and Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassorri were playing in a doubles quarterfinal in Paris. Then on Wednesday, besides the Berrettini-Arnaldi and Cobolli-Auger-Aliassime singles matches, Sara Errani and Vavassori will play in the semifinals of mixed doubles.
\u201cIt just goes to show you that Italian tennis is tough,\u201d said 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang, who coaches Tien. \u201cTo be able to win the Davis Cup even when Jannik\u2019s not playing, the depth is very great there.\u201d
Italy's Flavio Cobolli returns to Zachary Svajda of the United States during the fourth-round tennis match at the French Open in Paris, Monday, June 1, 2026. Credit: AP\/Christophe Ena
Chang witnessed the country\u2019s tennis boom recently at the Italian Open.
\u201cPlaying on courts outside of the Foro Italico, everyone\u2019s playing tennis,\u201d Chang said.
The 24-year-old Cobolli was a talented soccer player and a member of Roma\u2019s youth club until he decided to focus full-time on tennis.
He still prefers watching soccer to tennis, and went to watch Roma\u2019s final game of the Serie A season at the \u201cRoma Club Parigi\u201d the night before his opening match in Paris.
Italy's Matteo Berrettini react during the fourth-round tennis match against Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo at the French Open in Paris, Monday, June 1, 2026. Credit: AP\/Aurelien Morissard
\u201cI play(ed) with many guys that now are doing pretty well, like (Arsenal fullback Riccardo) Calafiori, (Watford midfielder Edoardo) Bove, (Atalanta winger Nicola) Zalewski, (Lazio winger Matteo) Cancellieri,\u201d Cobolli said. \u201cWe were in the same team, and we have a good relationship. If I win a good match, they write me, and the same with them.\u201d
Cobolli comes from the same tennis club in Rome where 1976 French Open champion Adriano Panatta played, Tennis Club Parioli, and Panatta has been invited to award the men\u2019s singles trophy on Sunday to recognize the 50th anniversary of his title.
The 14th-ranked Cobolli could rise as high as the top five if he wins the title.
Before Sinner exploded onto the scene, it was Berrettini leading the way when at Wimbledon in 2021 he became the first Italian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Panatta.
Nicknamed \u201cThe Hammer\u201d for his big serve, Berrettini\u2019s best surface is grass.
But a year after he lost the final to Djokovic at the All England Club, Berrettini withdrew from Wimbledon after testing positive for COVID-19 days after winning the Queen\u2019s Club title.
Berrettini has been riddled with injuries for the past five years and hadn\u2019t even played at the French Open since his memorable 2021 season.
When Berrettini lost in the second round of a Challenger event \u2014 tennis\u2019 minor leagues \u2014 just before coming to Paris, he took a walk around after the loss in Valencia, Spain, and took stock of his life.
\u201cI looked at people coming out of offices and parents bringing their kids home from school and I thought to myself, \u2018There\u2019s a world beyond (tennis).\u2019 Sometimes it takes some perspective. People like Sinner who win all the time are just very unique. The rest of us need some losses now and then to rediscover the necessary energy. If everything went well all the time then I would be No. 1.\u201d
Berretini's ranking fell to No. 105 entering the French Open.
The 104th-ranked Arnaldi has played 18 sets in his four matches so far and won consecutive five setters. His total of 17 hours, 42 minutes on court to reach the quarterfinals easily surpassed the French Open record of 15 hours, 44 minutes established by Nicklas Kulti in 1992.
Arnaldi lost eight of his first 10 matches this year before he won seven straight on clay \u2014 four of them in deciding sets \u2014 across a Challenger in Cagliari and the opening two rounds of the Madrid Open.
Arnaldi reached a career-high ranking of No. 30 in 2024 before struggling last year with a right foot injury.
\u201cIn Cagliari I started to rediscover my confidence,\u201d Arnaldi said, \u201cand that\u2019s what has made the difference.\u201d
___
AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire contributed.
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Italy's Matteo Berrettini reacts during the fourth-round tennis match against Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo at the French Open in Paris, Monday, June 1, 2026. Credit: AP\/Thibault CamusPARIS \u2014 Top-ranked Jannik Sinner was stunned in the French Open second round. Lorenzo Musetti, a semifinalist in 2025, didn\u2019t make it back to Paris this year due to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}