Zachary Svajda continues to tread new ground on his main-draw debut at Roland Garros. The No. 85 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, who arrived in Paris with just one tour-level win on clay, upset 25th seed Francisco Cerundolo in a pulsating five-setter Saturday to reach the fourth round at a major for the first time.
The 23-year-old Svajda halted a stirring comeback bid from Cerundolo to earn an emotional 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory. The American, whose father Tom passed away last October after a battle with cancer, pointed to the sky after upsetting World No. 26 Cerundolo across three hours and three minutes on Court 14.
"It's like I'm dreaming right now, in a dream. It's crazy," Svajda said in his post-match press conference. "Today was so special, too, because it's also my dad's birthday. I know he's watching from above. It just makes it so special."
Having established a two-set lead, Svajda appeared to have lost control of his clash with Cerundolo as the Argentine roared back into contention. Yet the American did not panic, and he broke Cerundolo’s serve twice early in the deciding set to establish a 4-1 lead.
Understandably showing signs of tightness as he served for the match at 5-3, Svajda let slip two match points from 40/15 and was soon break point down, but he saved it with an ace down the T and made no mistake with his third match point. He now leads Cerundolo 2-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, having also upset the Argentine in Winston-Salem in 2024.
"It was nice getting the first two sets, and then I got a little bit tired," Svajda said. "My legs started cramping a little bit. I didn't want to show it too much, so I just tried to shorten the points a little bit more. He started to up his game, play well.
"When I lost the third and fourth, I told myself, just keep trusting, keep believing, and you never know what could happen. There was the great atmosphere out there. The crowd really helped me. Thankfully it went my way."
By reaching the fourth round, Svajda has already ensured he will hit a new career high in the PIF ATP Rankings after Roland Garros: He is currently up 26 spots to No. 59 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. Standing between Svajda and a quarter-final spot in Paris will be 10th seed Flavio Cobolli. Italy’s Cobolli earlier raced past 18th seed Learner Tien 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to snap the American’s six-match winning streak.
Cobolli converted seven of 13 break points he earned against Tien, according to Infosys Stats, to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the second time (after his quarter-final run at 2025 Wimbledon). The 24-year-old World No. 14 is the fourth-highest ranked player remaining the draw, after Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andrey Rublev.
"Of course I want to think match by match," Cobolli said when asked about the relatively open Roland Garros draw. "That's the way that I want to think this week.
"I know that there are many possibilities to have a new Grand Slam champion. For sure we [will] have a new Grand Slam champion, but I don't want to think about this. For sure I have now another tough match."
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