French Open updates | Teen Alcaraz hits ’tweener lob in win

PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament (all times local):

11:35 p.m.

Carlos Alcaraz produced one remarkable back-to-the-net, between-the-legs lob to a corner to earn the last service break he would need in a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Karen Khachanov that put the Spanish teenager in the French Open quarterfinals for the first time.

The sixth-seeded Alcaraz accrued a 37-19 edge in winners against Khachanov and broke the big server five times.

That included when Alcaraz went ahead 4-3 in the final set with the help of that ’tweener lob over the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Khachanov, who reached the ball but wasn’t able to keep it in play.

Last month, shortly before he turned 19, Alcaraz became the youngest man to break into the ATP’s top 10 since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

The second Grand Slam quarterfinal of Alcaraz’s nascent career will come Tuesday against No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev, the runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open.

Khachanov was a quarterfinalist in Paris in 2019 and seeded 21st this year.

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8:45 p.m.

Rafael Nadal got through a serious test in the French Open’s fourth round by edging Felix Auger-Aliassime 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a record 59th matchup against rival Novak Djokovic.

Sunday’s thriller in Court Philippe Chatrier was only the third five-setter Nadal ever has played at Roland Garros, where he has won 13 of his record 21 Grand Slam titles.

Nadal is 3-0 in those contests that go the distance, part of his overall 109-3 mark at the clay-court tournament.

Two of those three career defeats in Paris came against Djokovic, owner of 20 major titles and two at the French Open. Last year, Djokovic beat Nadal in the semifinals en route to the trophy.

Djokovic leads their overall series 30-28. No other two men have played each other as many times in the professional era of tennis.

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8:35 p.m.

Sloane Stephens has returned to the French Open quarterfinals for the first time since 2019 by beating Jil Teichmann 6-2, 6-0.

Stephens won the 2017 U.S. Open and was the runner-up at Roland Garros the next year. But she hasn’t been a member of the final eight players at any major tournament since losing in the quarterfinals in Paris three years ago.

Stephens will face Coco Gauff in an all-U.S. matchup next.

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7:05 p.m.

Third-seeded Alexander Zverev is into his fourth quarterfinal at Roland Garros thanks to a 7-6 (11), 7-5, 6-3 win against 131st-ranked qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

Zverev lost in the semifinals a year ago at the French Open.

His best Grand Slam showing was as a finalist at the 2020 U.S. Open.

The 25-year-old German will play No. 6 Carlos Alcaraz or No. 21 Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals.(backslash)

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4:05 p.m.

American teenager Coco Gauff hit one backhand around the net post in the first set along the way to earning a berth in the French Open quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.

The 18-year-old American took over from 4-all in the opening set en route to beating No. 31 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-4, 6-0 at Court Philippe Chatrier on Sunday.

Gauff burst onto the scene at Wimbledon when she was 15 by becoming the youngest qualifier in tournament history, beating Venus Williams and getting all the way to the fourth round.

Her first Grand Slam quarterfinal came in Paris in 2021, when she lost to eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova, and now she’s made it that far again.

The 18th-seeded Gauff’s next opponent will be 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens of the United States or No. 23 Jil Teichmann of Switzerland.

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3:50 p.m.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic has reached his record 16th career Roland Garros quarterfinal and could find a familiar foe across the net next: Rafael Nadal.

The No. 1-ranked Djokovic quickly recovered from only the slightest of blips at the start of the second set Sunday and went on to a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 victory over 15th-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Djokovic has won all 12 sets he’s played so far in this year’s tournament and dropped a total of merely 30 games across the four matches.

He fell behind 3-0 in the second set but grabbed seven games in a row to take that set and a 1-0 lead in the third.

Djokovic has made the quarterfinals in Paris 13 years in a row. He won the title in 2016 and last year, part of his collection of 20 Grand Slam trophies. Only one man has won more — Nadal, with 21.

And if 13-time French Open champion Nadal wins his fourth-round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime later Sunday, the two long-time rivals would meet each other in the quarterfinals. That would be the 59th head-to-head matchup between Djokovic and Nadal, more than any other two men in the professional era of tennis.

Nadal heads into his match against Auger-Aliassime with 15 quarterfinal appearances at Paris.

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2:15 p.m.

U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez has moved into the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Amanda Anisimova.

The 19-year-old Fernandez had more than twice as many winners, 35, as unforced errors, 17, and continued her run of impressive returning at the tournament. She broke Anisimova six times and now has won 23 of her opponents’ service games through four matches.

Fernandez had never won more than two consecutive main-draw matches on clay until this trip to Paris.

The Canadian made a breakthrough last year at the U.S. Open by making it all the way to the final before losing to Emma Raducanu in a matchup between a pair of unseeded teenagers.

Fernandez, the youngest player to win a WTA title in 2022, is seeded 17th at the French Open and will play Martina Trevisan of Italy next.

The 27th-seeded Anisimova was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2019 at age 17. The American eliminated four-time major champion Naomi Osaka in the first round this year.

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1:20 p.m.

Martina Trevisan of Italy has reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the second time in three appearances.

The 59th-ranked Trevisan grabbed the last four games and beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (10), 7-5 on Sunday.

Sasnovich served for the second set at 5-3 but got broken at love there, part of a stretch in which Trevisan collected 13 of 15 points.

Trevisan won her first WTA title at Rabat the week before the French Open began and is now on a nine-match winning streak. Eight of those victories came in straight sets.

She was a qualifier ranked 159th in 2020 when she made a surprising run to the French Open quarterfinals before losing at that stage to eventual champion Iga Swiatek. This time, Trevisan will meet Leylah Fernandez or Amanda Anisimova for a semifinal berth.

Trevisan has lost in the first or second round in six other Grand Slam appearances.

The 47th-ranked Sasnovich beat major champions Angelique Kerber and Emma Raducanu to get to the fourth round in Paris.

Sasnovich has never made it to the quarterfinals in 28 career major tournaments.

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Noon

Fourth-round action at Roland Garros is underway on the chilliest day of the tournament so far, with the temperature at 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 Celsius).

Five American women made it to the round of 16 at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2003, and three are in action Sunday.

Amanda Anisimova, a semifinalist in Paris in 2019 at age 17, is playing 2021 U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez at Court Philippe Chatrier. That match will be followed by Coco Gauff — at 18, she is the youngest woman left in the draw — against 31st-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium. And 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens meets 23rd-seeded Jil Teichmann of Switzerland at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are scheduled to play their fourth-round matches later in the day. If 13-time French Open champion Nadal beats No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime, and defending champion Djokovic gets past No. 15 Diego Schwartzman, the owners of a combined 41 major titles will face each other in the quarterfinals.

That would be the 59th matchup between Djokovic and Nadal, extending their record for the most meetings between any two men in the professional era of tennis.

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