After a championship-match run in 2022, Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are making their mark once again at Roland Garros.

The Croatian-American pairing moved to 8-1 as a team at the clay-court major on Sunday by defeating Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 in the third round. Dodig and Krajicek let slip a 3-0 lead en route to losing the first set but clinched a late break of their opponents’ serve in both the second and third to wrap a two-hour, 59-minute triumph.

The fourth seeds will take on German duo Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the quarter-finals in Paris, after the German duo moved past Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 6-4, 7-6(4). Krawietz is a two-time champion at Roland Garros, where he lifted the trophy in 2019 and 2020 alongside Andreas Mies, who was also a third-round winner. Mies and his partner Matwe Middelkoop upset fifth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 6-4, 6-2 to book a clash against defending champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos were the other winning team in Paris on Sunday. The Spanish-Argentine pair ended the run of Marcelo Melo and John Peers with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Granollers and Zeballos are seven-time titlists as a team on the ATP Tour but are chasing their maiden major title this fortnight in the French capital.

Three-time major champion Andy Murray will clash against former World No. 19 Hyeon Chung in a blockbuster first-round match Monday at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Surbiton, Great Britain.

The grass-court contest adds to Murray’s numerous encounters against star players on the Challenger Tour in the last month. At the Challenger 175 event in Aix-en-Provence, Murray ousted Gael Monfils and World No. 17 Tommy Paul en route to his first title at any level since 2019. The former World No. 1 also battled against three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka at the Bordeaux Challenger, where the Swiss earned a straight-sets victory.

The second seed Murray, who received a wild card into the Surbiton Challenger, will meet Chung for the first time. The 27-year-old Chung is competing in just his third tournament since returning from a back injury he suffered in 2020. A semi-finalist at the 2018 Australian Open, Chung suffered a loss in the opening round of both the Seoul and Busan Challengers in April and May, respectively.

A strong field at this week’s Lexus Surbiton Trophy also features World No. 25 Daniel Evans and American Mackenzie McDonald.

Watch Andy Murray vs. Hyeon Chung (Third match on Centre Court Monday)

Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday set a blockbuster quarter-final showdown at Roland Garros against Carlos Alcaraz when he breezed past Austrian Sebastian Ofner.

After Alcaraz displayed imperious form earlier in the day against Lorenzo Musetti, Tsitsipas responded with a statement performance of his own, losing serve just once en route to a 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 victory.

Ofner put up resistance early and appeared poised to push his favoured opponent to a first-set tie-break. But when the Austrian missed a forehand wide on set point, Tsitsipas seized the opportunity to surge ahead.

The Greek hit 27 winners to just 12 unforced errors in the one-hour, 48-minute clash. He has not lost a set since the first round against Jiri Vesely.

The fifth seed has reached at least the quarter-finals in three of his past four appearances at the clay-court major. The 24-year-old has played his best tennis at the majors this season, having also advanced to the final of the Australian Open.

Tsitsipas will try to overturn an 0-4 ATP Head2Head record against Alcaraz in the last eight. Just a month and a half ago, the Spaniard defeated the Greek 6-3, 6-4 in the Barcelona final.

Ofner enjoyed the best tournament of his career by reaching the fourth round at a major for the first time. The Austrian was trying to become the first qualifier to make the last eight at Roland Garros since Marcelo Filippini in 1999.

The 27-year-old is up to No. 80 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He will crack the world’s Top 100 for the first time the Monday after Roland Garros, when the newest edition of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is released.

Father and son are reunited.

Former World No. 55 Bryan Shelton announced on Friday he is stepping down from his role as head men’s tennis coach at the University of Florida. Having led a women’s team (Georgia Tech, 2007) and men’s team (Florida, 2021) to national championships, he will embark on a new journey — coaching son Ben Shelton on the ATP Tour.

“The dream team is back together baby‼️” Ben wrote on Instagram. “Can’t wait to have you out on tour with me, and see what we can accomplish together.”

 

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Bryan’s overwhelming feeling at the moment is gratitude. After his professional career, the American has become one of the most respected coaches in college tennis and even coached Ben for two years, during which the Florida Gators won the national championship as a team and Ben captured singles glory.

Now Bryan is thrilled to join his 20-year-old son on the road for his own professional journey.

“Thankful that I have another opportunity that’s really exciting that’s about to get started,” Bryan told ATPTour.com. “I feel like a little bit of a kid again. At this stage in life, to be able to start something new and fresh and exciting is incredible. So I think that those are the things that are probably pouring out of me right now. Just gratitude and excitement.”

According to Bryan, Ben has intimated over the past year since turning professional that he would like to one day have his father by his side.

“I think in his mind, he’s always thought that ultimately, we’d be able to do this together,” Bryan said. “We started together on the court and I think we’ve kind of built that coach-player relationship through the years as we continue to build our own relationship as father-son. And those two kind of went side by side along the way.

“I always said, I had to put one hat on and take the other hat off, and then kind of understanding when to do both is a little bit tricky, because you hear about these stories with mother and daughter, father and son, mother and son, these stories that end up not being great stories. And so, my wife, Lisa, and I, we’ve really tried to have a balance with our kids and understand that they’re people first before they’re players.

“I think that along the way, I’ve put my coach hat on and to be able to do both still and for him to want me to come out there with him and help him in this area and share these experiences together, I think that speaks to the love that we have for one another and also the level of respect that we have for one another.”

Many professional tennis players travel internationally in the juniors. But Shelton did not step outside the United States until the beginning of this season in Adelaide. The lefty also began his clay-court season having never competed on red clay. Ben played football as a kid — he was a quarterback — and did not fully focus on tennis until later on.

“Oh my goodness. That’s probably one of the most exciting parts of Ben. His potential is, in my opinion, limitless, because he hasn’t really scratched the surface,” Bryan said. “I just feel like he’s so many hours shy of someone else his age that’s playing at that level. They’ve logged a lot more hours, they’ve experienced a lot more situations on a lot more surfaces, and they’ve played around the globe for years prior, and he’s having to catch up on those experiences.

“But where he lacks experience, he has just a passion and a desire and a work ethic and some other intangible things that have allowed him to start catching up. But there’s still so much room for growth.”

Ben has been mentored on the road by Dean Goldfine, the former coach of many stars including Aaron Krickstein, Todd Martin, Andy Roddick and Sebastian Korda, whom Bryan expressed a lot of gratitude for. But the former college coach has missed experiencing Ben’s early moments on Tour while home in Florida coaching the Gators.

“That would be 100 per cent of the time,” Bryan said when asked how often he has wished he could have been alongside his son. “I always said I wish I could have perfected that trick where you can be in two places at one time.”

Ben’s biggest breakthrough came earlier this year at the Australian Open, where he advanced to the quarter-finals on his tournament debut.

“You want to be there for those those big firsts in your life and your kids’ lives,” Bryan said. “To miss that one was pretty tough, but just so happy for him and for how he’s handled himself and everything else. So we’re very proud at the same time and to see him be able to do that with the help of others out there with them was very rewarding as well.”

Ben summed up his father’s impact on the world of college tennis.

“This isn’t a career that’s defined by championships and accolades, but by the people impacted and lives changed,” Ben wrote on Instagram. “You showed up to work every day and gave a perfect effort. You did things with character and humility no matter the situation. You’ve kept your faith wherever your life has taken you, and always put your family first. There isn’t a better role model for young men trying to find their way in life.”