Berrettini breaks Comesaña after five sets and reaches the Roland-Garros round of 16
Matteo Berrettini reached the Roland-Garros round of 16 after one of the most dramatic matches of the men's tournament in Paris so far. The Italian defeated Argentina's Francisco Comesaña in the third round 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(13), after five hours and 13 minutes of play on Court Simonne-Mathieu. According to the official result from the Roland-Garros organizers, the match ended only after the decisive super tie-break of the fifth set, in which Berrettini was calmer in the closing points and won 15-13. With that, the 30-year-old Italian secured a place among the last 16 players, while Comesaña was left with the feeling that he had been very close to the biggest result of the tournament.
This duel was a classic example of a Grand Slam match in which the flow of play changed several times, and in the end the difference was made by individual decisions in the shortest of moments. Berrettini won the first set in a tie-break, but he did not manage to quickly settle the match. Comesaña responded by taking the second set, and then the third as well, also after a tie-break, putting the Italian in a position where he had to win the final two sets. Berrettini found stability on his serve in the fourth set and brought the match back into balance, before the fifth set turned into an exhausting battle of nerves.
Five hours of tennis and a finale in which every point decided
According to official Roland-Garros data, the match lasted 05:13, which says enough about the physical and mental weight of the encounter. In the first set, Berrettini managed to avoid an early loss of control, and he played the tie-break more precisely than his opponent and won it 7-3. In that part of the match, his serve stood out in particular, a weapon that has often kept him in matches throughout his career even when baseline exchanges were not at the highest level. Comesaña, however, did not retreat after losing the set; instead, as the match continued, he increasingly managed to enter longer points and force Berrettini to work more than he would have liked.
The second set went to the Argentine 7-5, and the third further changed the psychological balance of power. Comesaña won that set in a tie-break 7-4, moving within one set of reaching the round of 16. At those moments Berrettini had little room for error, especially because long games and constant pressure on serve were further draining his energy. The Italian nevertheless managed to reduce the risk in the key moments of the fourth set and take it 6-4. That earned him a deciding set, in which the tension continued until the last possible format of resolution.
In the fifth set, neither player managed to create a large enough advantage to decide the match before the final tie-break. According to the rules applied at Grand Slam tournaments since 2022, when the deciding set reaches 6-6, a tie-break to ten points is played, with a mandatory two-point margin. In Paris this time, that rule led to an exceptionally long finale: Berrettini and Comesaña kept exchanging opportunities, and the tie-break ended only at 15-13 for the Italian. Such a result shows how little separated the two players, but also how much Berrettini had to withstand in order to confirm his passage.
Berrettini's victory carries more weight than the result alone
For Berrettini, this victory has broader significance than reaching the fourth round. Roland-Garros states on its official website that the Italian arrived in Paris as the 105th player in the ATP rankings, although he is a player who has been a Wimbledon finalist and a member of the world's elite. His last several seasons have been marked by injuries, interruptions and attempts to return to a competitive rhythm, so every victory in a match of this intensity carries special weight. After his first round in Paris, Tennis.com recalled that Berrettini this year recorded his first appearance and first victory at Roland-Garros since 2021, when he reached the quarterfinals.
That is precisely why the way he defeated Comesaña could be important for the rest of his season. Berrettini had to react after losing the second and third sets, and then play a finale in which physical fatigue intertwined with scoreboard pressure. The Guardian reported that the Italian survived two match points in the fifth set before turning the finale in his favor. That detail further explains why the duel in Paris was one of the most dramatic matches of the day: it was not just a long contest, but a match in which the winner was several times on the brink of elimination.
Berrettini is best known throughout his career for his powerful serve and forehand, but this encounter also showed another side of his tennis. He had to accept a large number of exchanges, defend himself in moments when Comesaña found his rhythm, and wait for an opportunity in circumstances where quick games could not be counted on. In a five-set match, such an approach is often just as important as pure attacking power. In the end, the Italian won a duel in which he was not always in front, but he was steady enough when the points became most valuable.
Comesaña confirmed that he can threaten on the biggest stage as well
Francisco Comesaña left the tournament after the defeat, but his performance cannot be reduced only to a missed opportunity. According to the official Roland-Garros profile, the Argentine competed in Paris as the 102nd player in the ATP rankings, and he is a 25-year-old player from Mar del Plata who plays right-handed and whose coach is Sebastián Gutiérrez. The ITF states in his profile that clay is his preferred surface, which was also visible in the way he tried to stretch points and open up space for attack. Against Berrettini, he managed for a long time to maintain tactical discipline and did not allow the lost first set to knock him out of the match.
Comesaña reacted especially well in the second and third sets. In the second, he found a way to a late break, and in the third he was more stable in the tie-break and thus took control of the score. During those periods, Berrettini often had to play an extra shot, while the Argentine showed that he could withstand pressure against a player with much greater experience in the closing stages of major tournaments. Although he did not manage to finish the job, Comesaña proved that he can cope with the rhythm and pressure of five sets on the Grand Slam stage.
The defeat is especially painful for the Argentine because he was close to a victory that would have had a strong impact. Still, his performance in Paris offers enough reasons for optimism. In the match against Berrettini, he won two sets, took the fifth set to a super tie-break and remained almost completely equal until the very end. At tournaments such as Roland-Garros, such matches often become important experiences for players who are only just establishing themselves at the level of the biggest competitions. Comesaña's game showed that his ranking does not necessarily reflect the danger he can represent on clay.
The super tie-break as a new kind of Grand Slam drama
The match finale further emphasized the importance of the deciding tie-break rule in the fifth set. In 2022, the Grand Slam Board announced a joint decision under which all four Grand Slam tournaments, including Roland-Garros, play a tie-break to ten points at 6-6 in the deciding set. The winner must have a two-point margin, which means that the finale can go far beyond the tenth point if the players continue to exchange points. That is exactly what happened in the duel between Berrettini and Comesaña, in which the decisive section ended 15-13.
Such a format reduces the possibility of endlessly long deciding sets, but it does not remove the drama. On the contrary, every point after 8-8 or 9-9 carries the weight of almost an entire game, and the pressure is further increased because mistakes are difficult to repair. In that situation, Berrettini had to combine experience, serve and composure, while Comesaña tried to remain aggressive and not give up the initiative. The match showed how cruel the super tie-break can be to the losing player: after more than five hours of battle, the difference came down to two points.
For spectators and the tournament, such encounters have special value because they create a clear dramaturgy without the need for additional explanation. The two players entered the finale with the same number of sets won, almost complete physical exhaustion and the awareness that only a few shots separated them from the round of 16. Berrettini emerged from that moment as the winner, but Comesaña's resistance gave the match a balance and tension that is remembered. That is why this result is more than a routine third-round victory; it is a match that will mark the day in the men's part of the tournament.
A more open draw and the next challenge for the Italian
Berrettini's passage comes in a part of the tournament in which, according to The Guardian's report, the men's draw has already undergone a series of significant changes. The exits of big names and long matches in the third round have opened space for players who arrived in Paris without the role of main favorites, but with enough experience or form to seize the opportunity. In that context, Berrettini is especially interesting because he has experience of a Grand Slam final, yet he entered Roland-Garros with a lower ranking and many questions about his physical endurance. The victory over Comesaña does not remove all those questions, but it shows that he can survive the hardest possible test in a best-of-five-sets format.
According to reports from Paris, Berrettini will face Juan Manuel Cerúndolo in the round of 16, after Cerúndolo defeated Martín Landaluce in another marathon match. The Guardian stated that the encounter lasted five hours and 58 minutes and that it was the third-longest match in Roland-Garros history. That means that in the next round two players will meet who reached the round of 16 after extremely demanding physical duels. Recovery could therefore be just as important as tactical preparation.
For Berrettini, the key will be the ability to maintain the effectiveness of his serve, but also to avoid overly long passive phases. Against Comesaña it was clear that he can survive periods in which he is not dominant, but later in the tournament such dips can be even more costly. Cerúndolo, as another Argentine who handles clay well, brings a different set of challenges and probably even more baseline exchanges. After the victory 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(13), Berrettini enters the round of 16 with great emotional capital, but also with the clear realization that there are no longer any easy matches in Paris.
Sources:
- Roland-Garros – official match result of Matteo Berrettini - Francisco Comesana in the third round of the men's singles, including court, duration and sets (link)
- Roland-Garros – official profile of Matteo Berrettini with data on ATP ranking, age, place of birth, height, coaches and career (link)
- Roland-Garros – official profile of Francisco Comesana with data on ATP ranking, age, place of birth, coach and career (link)
- ITF – profile of Francisco Comesana with data on preferred surface and basic player information (link)
- Australian Open / Grand Slam Board – explanation of the joint rule on a ten-point tie-break in the deciding set at Grand Slam tournaments (link)
- Tennis.com – context of Berrettini's return to Roland-Garros and the detail about his first appearance and victory in Paris since 2021 (link)
- The Guardian – report on the seventh day of Roland-Garros, including details about Berrettini's saved match points, the broader context of the draw and his next opponent (link)