No.8 seed Jannik Sinner faced a shock exit from the French Open after losing to Germany’s Daniel Altmaier in the second round on Thursday, June 1. In the fifth-longest match in the history of Roland Garros, the 1998-born German won 6-7 (0), 7-6 (7), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5. Sinner and Altmaier fought hard for five hours and 26 minutes at Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

At 4-5 in the fourth set, Altmaier faced two match points, but he somehow managed to take the set into a tie-break where he came up trumps. He had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4, but missed the chance as Sinner broke his serve to make it 5-5.

However, Altmaier won the next two games to pull the curtains down on the epic contest. Sinner also saved four match points at 0-40, but Altmaier did not let the pressure get the better of him.

One to remember: Daniel Altmaier

“Playing every point, you can with the best effort, that’s what keeps you in reality,” Altmaier was quoted as saying when asked about saving two match points in the fourth set.

As many as 122 winners were hit in the game out of which 62 came from Altmaier, who also smashed 10 aces.

“I was just thinking that, and the competition says it all. We have had historic matches with so many match points… I do not know if you can call this an ‘historical’ match, but I think it was one to remember,” Altmaier stated.

It also happened to be Altmaier’s second top 10 win at Roland Garros after he defeated Matteo Berrettini back in 2020. The German has tasted a significant amount of success of late as he also advanced to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final in the Madrid Open back in May.

Altmaier will next face Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in the third round on Saturday, June 3.