Carlos Alcaraz Talks 'Difficult' French Open Win vs. Damir Dzumhur at Roland-Garros

Carlos Alcaraz said he "suffered quite a lot" during his third-round win over Damir Dzumhur during the 2025 French Open in Paris.

The defending champion won 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round on Friday night at Roland Garros. He will face Ben Shelton in the Round of 16.

"I’m just really happy to have played a good match with him,” Alcaraz said after the win, per Victoria Chiesa of RolandGarros.com. “We both played great tennis, great rallies, great points and we did enjoy all the people watching our match tonight, so I just appreciated that. You have to play at a really high level of tennis for three, four hours, and you have to maintain that focus … that’s the most difficult part."

Alcaraz continued, “The first two sets, I was under control, feeling great, playing great, then I think he started to play deeper and more aggressively as well, and I got down in my energy. Then it was really difficult for me to push myself, and I had to fight and give everything that I had inside.

"But I’m just proud of myself to get the win at the end.”

The world No. 2 went on to celebrate the win with a post-match post on social media:

Alcaraz won the two opening sets on Friday before Dzumhur tested his ability to defend his Roland Garros title.

After claiming a 6-4 win over Alcaraz in the third set, Dzumhur broke the opening game of the fourth set. Alcaraz missed three break points in the following game.

Alcaraz eventually recovered to win the fourth set on his second match point.

Alcaraz's victory comes just over a month after he cited hamstring and groin injuries in his decision to withdraw from the Madrid Open in April. This marks the second round at Roland Garros in which Alcaraz has been taken to four sets.

Dzumhur battled knee and leg issues during the match, at one point taking a medical timeout before launching his comeback attempt.

Shelton meanwhile made it to the fourth round of the French Open for the first time in his career after beating Matteo Gigante 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in his own third-round match.

Alcaraz will need to make it past No. 13-ranked Shelton in order to become the tournament's first competitor since Rafael Nadal in 2020 to defend his title in Paris.