Emotional moment: Frances Tiafoe praises fellow American following two epic five-set battles at Roland Garros

Frances Tiafoe is one of the ATP players who has battled into the fourth round at Roland Garros.

Nine of the 16 third-round matches went the full distance, and Tiafoe came through his own five-setter against qualifier Jaime Faria.

The match lasted four hours, with the American finally prevailing to set up a meeting with Italian Matteo Arnaldi in the next round.

Arnaldi also needed five sets to get past Raphael Collignon, but it was Zachary Svajda’s win over Francisco Cerundolo that really stood out to Tiafoe.

Frances Tiafoe acknowledges Zachary Svajda after Roland Garros victory

Tiafoe spoke about his fellow American in the French capital, saying: “I just want to say a big shout out to Zach Svajda man.”

“The guy’s had a crazy story in his own respect man, you know, obviously I thought he was going to be at this level much sooner, but he had a lot of things going on, and it’s great to see him kind of, you know, it’s tapping into his potential.”

“He’s been through some emotional stuff, and obviously, you know, today, the passing of his dad, his dad’s birthday, got it done, like, he’s a great player, a great person, against Francis Cerundolo, so it’s not easy getting it done in five.”

“Clay’s not even Zach’s surface so that’s massive, man. So you know, I’ve seen him emotional. I was like, you know, that lifted the hairs on my arm, honestly, so I’m super happy for him.”

Zachary Svajda’s victory at Roland Garros was even more meaningful than realised

Stubbs also had praise for Tiafoe, who fought back to win after dropping the opening two sets. She wrote the following: “Huge shout out also to [Zach Svajda]!”

“What an incredible effort to beat such a great clay courter & to handle his nerves especially when he could have won in straight sets & didn’t let that disappointment affect him in the 5th!”

“Wins on his dad’s bday who he lost last year! And she was also really impressed by Tiafoe in his match, posting on X. “Huge comeback from Foe here! The game at 3-4 down in the 3rd was the match! It was over after that.”

“What a great effort considering he was overwhelming favourite to win this matchup and he rose to the occasion in the end. Proud of him!”

Svajda’s next challenge comes against Flavio Cobolli, one of just three top-10 seeds remaining in Paris alongside Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Tiafoe is set to face Arnaldi, while Svajda and Tiafoe are now the last two Americans still standing in the men’s singles draw.

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