By Julien Pretot
PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) - Matteo Arnaldi clawed his way back from the brink to become the third Italian man in the French Open quarter-finals on Monday, outlasting American Frances Tiafoe 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 3-6 7-6(3) 6-4 in a delirious late-night epic on court Suzanne-Lenglen.
With the crowd crackling under the Paris floodlights, the world number 104 stared elimination in the face when he trailed 4-1 in the fourth set, only to summon one final surge and prevail on his third match point
after five hours and 26 minutes of ferocious shot-making and lung-busting rallies.
“It’s a dream to be here. Today in the third set I was so tired,” said Arnaldi, the marathon man of this year’s tournament after already needing more than five hours to win his third-round match.
“We live to play these matches, I always wanted to play like this at night at Roland Garros.
“It was not tennis, just something else, with everything we had. Someone had to win. Fortunately, it was me tonight.”
Arnaldi has now spent 17 hours and 42 minutes on court in Paris — the most by any player reaching the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam since the ATP Tour began recording match times in 1991.
The Italian produced moments of almost absurd defence to blunt the power of 19th seed Tiafoe, scrambling from corner to corner and somehow turning defence into attack in a match that repeatedly pushed both men beyond exhaustion.
Tiafoe eventually cracked, dumping a backhand into the net.
Arnaldi will next face compatriot Matteo Berrettini for a place in the semi-finals, both joining Flavio Cobolli in the last eight after their compatriot Jannik Sinner's surprise second-round exit.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
