Paris: Marin Cilic beat Polish qualifier Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 to book a third round spot in the French Open on Thursday.
The Croatian third seed breezed through the first two sets virtually unchallenged by the world No. 188, who stepped up his game in the third and fourth, forcing errors from Cilic.
The 21-year-old forced and then won a third-set tiebreak, but was broken in the 11th game of the fourth set with Cilic clinching the contest on his first match point with an unreturnable serve.
Cilic, who got his best result at Roland Garros last year by reaching the quarter-finals, faces German Jan Lennard Struff or American Tennys Sandgren in the next round.
“I lost focus a bit and he played much better. I missed a few balls in the tiebreak,” the 2014 US Open champion said.
“I was staying positive but at some point you lose it, I had to regain composure.”
Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov said he wasn’t putting any pressure on himself and is “excited” for the grass-court season after his French Open second-round exit to Maximilian Marterer.
The 19-year-old 24th seed started strongly on Court One, leading by a set and a break, but lost his rhythm as he made 82 unforced errors in a 5-7, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 defeat.
The highly rated left-hander, who became the youngest man to break the world’s top 30 since 2005 by reaching his second Masters semi-final in Madrid earlier this year, will now turn his attention to grass — the “funniest part” of the season.
“Grass is going to be a big part of the season for me. I always enjoyed playing on it. It really suits my game style,” said Shapovalov, who will play the tournament at Stuttgart which starts on June 11.
“I’m excited to go out there. Obviously I’m going to try to rest for a couple of days.
“I’m excited, you know, it’s a short part of the season, but for me it’s the funniest part.”
Shapovalov first rose to prominence last year after being defaulted in a Davis Cup tie against Britain for accidentally injuring an umpire by striking a loose ball into his eye, before making the headlines for the right reasons with a stunning win over Rafael Nadal in Montreal.
His aggressive style of play didn’t pay off on Thursday, though, as world No. 70 Marterer fought back to reach his second straight Grand Slam third round.
But Shapovalov, who was playing a full clay-court season for the first time in his career this year, said he won’t linger on the defeat for long: “I just try not to put any [pressure] on myself, to be honest.
“Obviously, you know, when you have good results, any player is going to have a lot of media, a lot of people talking about them.
“At the end of the day, I play the sport for myself. I come out, I enjoy it. It’s not about what people will think about me. I do it for myself. That alone …it takes the pressure off me. If I lose, it’s my bad. If I win, you know, it’s good on me.
“I chose this sport because I love it, not because someone told me to do it.”
Shapovalov had been seeded at a major tournament for the first time, but struggled after losing the second-set tiebreak.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed with the loss, but like I said, I’m only 19, so not every week is going to be a semi-final of a big tournament,” he added.
“It’s going to be ups and downs, and I just have to keep enjoying it, keep enjoying the journey.”
Marterer, 22, will face lucky loser Jurgen Zopp of Estonia for a place in the last 16 and a potential clash with 10-time champion Nadal.
Austrian Dominic Thiem returned to Court 18 to finish off Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas and reach the third round for the third consecutive year.
The seventh seed was leading 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 2-2 when the battle of the single-handed backhands was suspended because of bad light the previous day.
Thiem made sure he was not further delayed as he polished off the fourth set 6-4.
Tsitsipas, 19, had beaten Thiem in Barcelona in the build-up to Roland Garros and was bidding to become the first Greek man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since 1969.
Thiem, beaten by Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals last year, will face Italian Matteo Berrettini on Friday.
Richard Gasquet advanced to the third round for the eighth straight year by defeating Malek Jaziri 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
The 27th-seeded Gasquet was joined in the third round by fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille, who advanced past Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 over two days after their match was stopped by darkness on Wednesday.
At No. 16, Pouille is the highest-ranked Frenchman in the main draw.
It has been 35 years since a player from the host nation lifted the men’s trophy in Paris.
