PARIS — Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session.
The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament.
“I suffered quite a lot today,” said Alcaraz, who has dropped two sets so far. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.”
Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the changeover at 3-2 down in the third set. He then lay down on the ground while the trainer worked on both legs for several minutes.
The crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier did a Mexican wave and shouted “Olé” while it waited.
Then Dzumhur received cheers when he made an improbable smash despite being off balance, again when he won the third set, and once more when he broke Alcaraz in the opening game of the fourth set.
An improbable turnaround seemed to be happening as Alcaraz made clumsy unforced errors. But the four-time Grand Slam champion broke back in the sixth and the eighth games to serve for the match.
Still, the resilient Dzumhur, whose face was red with effort and glistening with sweat, broke back to drag the suspense out a little longer.
Alcaraz finally clinched victory on his second match point and faces No. 13 Ben Shelton in the fourth round.
Shelton will be making his first appearance in the round of 16 at Roland Garros after beating Matteo Gigante 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
With No. 12 Tommy Paul’s five-set win over No. 24 Karen Khachanov, and No. 15 Frances Tiafoe defeating No. 23 Sebastian Korda 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-4 in an all-American matchup, the U.S. will have three men in the French Open fourth round for the first time since 1995.
If qualifier Ethan Quinn wins on Saturday, there would be four American men in Week 2 in Paris for the first time since 1991.
In other men’s third-round play Friday, No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy beat Mariano Navone and No. 10 Holger Rune of Denmark beat Frenchman Quentin Halys in five sets.
No. 25 Alexei Popyrin of Australia also advanced.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
