Zachary Svajda, the No. 85 player in the ATP Rankings, continued to tread new ground on his main-draw debut at the French Open, stunning 25th seed Francisco Cerundolo in a pulsating five-setter to reach the fourth round at a major for the first time at Stade Roland Garros on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Svajda halted a stirring comeback bid from Cerundolo to earn an emotional 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory. The American, whose father Tom passed away last October after a battle with cancer, pointed to the sky after upsetting World No. 26 Cerundolo across three hours and three minutes on Court 14.
Having established a two-set lead, Svajda appeared to have lost control of his clash with Cerundolo as the Argentine roared back into contention. But he broke Cerundolo’s serve twice early in the deciding set to establish a 4-1 lead. As he served for the match at 5-3, Svajda let slip two match points from 40/15 and was soon a break point down, but he saved it with an ace down the T and made no mistake with his third match point.
He now leads Cerundolo 2-1 in the pair’s ATP head-to-head series, having also upset the Argentine in Winston-Salem in 2024. By reaching the fourth round, Svajda has already ensured he will hit a new career high in the ATP Rankings after Roland Garros: He is currently up 26 spots to No. 59 in the ATP Live Rankings.
Standing between Svajda and a quarter-final spot in Paris will be the 10th seed, Flavio Cobolli. Italy’s Cobolli earlier raced past 18th seed Learner Tien 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to snap the American’s six-match winning streak. Cobolli converted seven of 13 break points he earned against Tien, according to Infosys Stats, to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the second time (after his quarter-final run at 2025 Wimbledon).
The 24-year-old World No. 14 is the fourth-highest-ranked player remaining in the draw, after Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Andrey Rublev. "Of course I want to think match by match," Cobolli said when asked about the relatively open Roland Garros draw.
"That's the way that I want to think this week. "I know that there are many possibilities to have a new Grand Slam champion. For sure, we [will] have a new Grand Slam champion, but I don't want to think about this. For sure, I have another tough match," he said.