French Open R4 previews and predictions: Alcaraz vs. Auger-Aliassime, Tsitsipas vs. Arnaldi

Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas remain on a collision course for the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. They have one round to go and must get past Felix Auger-Aliassime and Matteo Arnaldi, respectively, on Sunday.

(21) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (3) Carlos Alcaraz

Alcaraz and Auger-Aliassime will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers when they clash in round four of the French Open on Sunday. Auger-Aliassime leads the head-to-head series 3-2 (all on hard courts), but Alcaraz has won two in a row since losing their first three meetings. They most recently faced each other earlier this season at the Indian Wells Masters, where the Spaniard cruised 6-2, 6-3.

Although there were some fitness concerns for Alcaraz (right arm) heading into Roland Garros, those appear to be things of the past. The world No. 3 advanced through the first week with relative ease, beating J.J. Wolf and Sebastian Korda in straight sets to go along with a four-set victory over Jesper de Jong. Auger-Aliassime also dropped just one set while getting past Yoshihito Nishioka, Henri Squire, and Ben Shelton. The Canadian’s rout of Shelton looks good on paper, but the American was clearly compromised by a shoulder issue. As the recent runner-up in Madrid, Auger-Aliassime is starting to play better again–but nothing suggests he will turn the tide from his recent losses to Alcaraz.

Pick: Alcaraz in 3

Matteo Arnaldi vs. (9) Stefanos Tsitsipas

This was expected to a be a showdown between Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev in perhaps the toughest section of the draw, but Arnaldi had other ideas. The 23-year-old Italian took down Rublev 7-6(6), 6-2, 6-4 in the third round, giving him 18 main-tour match victories in what has been a solid 2024 campaign. Arnaldi, who now has three wins over top-10 opponents in his young career, preceded that result by defeating Frenchmen Arthur Fils and Alexandre Muller in convincing fashion.

Up next for the world No. 35 is a first-ever contest against Tsitsipas, who is looking every bit like the title contender he was billed as before this fortnight began. The ninth-ranked Greek, who was the champion in Monte-Carlo and the runner-up in Barcelona, booked his spot in the last 16 by ousting Marton Fucsovics, Daniel Altmaier, and Zhizhen Zhang–the latter with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 beatdown. Tsitsipas will likely advance as he bids for a second French Open final appearance, but a confident Arnaldi can be expected to make this a competitive, high-quality affair.

Pick: Tsitsipas in 4