A beaming Matteo Berrettini said tennis is the “love of my life” after reaching a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time in almost four years.
The 30-year-old beat Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) and is one of three Italians in the last eight – the first time this has happened in the Open era, despite world number one Jannik Sinner exiting in the second round.
Flavio Cobolli, the 10th seed, beat Zachary Svajda in four sets while Matteo Arnaldi spent more than five hours on court to beat 19th seed Frances Tiafoe.
Arnaldi, the world number 104, will play Berrettini in his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final, guaranteeing at least one Italian – and one player ranked outside the top 100 – will reach the last four.
Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon finalist, reached a career-high world number six in 2022 but has slipped to 105th in the rankings after being plagued by injuries and fitness problems.
“[Tennis] is the love of my life, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t be here,” Berrettini said.
“After all the setbacks, all the injuries, all the bad moments, I came back once again.
“There were moments where it was really tough to come back and play, because I wasn’t ready and I wasn’t sure about my confidence – now I feel great.”
Berrettini is the lowest-ranked Roland Garros quarter-finalist since Igor Andreev in 2007.