German player Daniel Altmaier is proving to be a force that’s difficult to stop. He came through the qualifying tournament to reach the French Open main draw.
The 22-year-old has now upset seventh-seeded Matteo Berrettini to storm into the fourth round with a 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-4 win on Saturday.
The 186th-ranked Altmaier joins two other Roland Garros debutants — Sebastian Korda and Jannik Sinner — in the fourth round. That many men haven’t gone that far in their debuts at Roland Garros since four made the last 16 in 1994.
Altmaier has struggled with injuries in the past but has yet to drop a set. He has won all three tiebreaks he has faced in his Grand Slam debut. He dropped only one set in his three qualifying matches.
Andrey Rublev also advanced to the fourth round, posting a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over unseeded South African Kevin Anderson.
The 34-year-old Anderson still hopes to win a Grand Slam title, having lost finals to Rafael Nadal at the US Open in 2017 and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2018.
But the 118th-ranked veteran proved to be easy pickings for the No. 13 seed Rublev on Court Simonne Mathieu. He failed to earn a single break point against the 22-year-old Russian.
Rublev lost in the first round in his only previous appearance at Roland Garros in 2017. He was a quarterfinalist at the US Open this year and in 2017.
In a matchup of seeded Spanish players, No. 17 Pablo Carreno Busta, a US Open semifinalist this year, beat No. 10 Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.