Daniel Altmaier cried uncontrollably. Again and again, the 24-year-old wiped the tears from his eyes and enjoyed the ovation for the sensation in a great tennis drama. With shouts of "Daniel, Daniel", the audience celebrated the underdog at the French Open for the coup in a five-set thriller against Italian title contender Jannik Sinner.

"I don't know if you can call it a historic game. But that's one that will be remembered," Altmaier enthused in an interview on the Suzanne-Lenglen court after soaking up the atmosphere. "I just love tennis. Over the past few months, my team and I have invested so much. This victory is a team effort."

Zverev loosely continues

Alexander Zverev did his own emotional test on the unfortunate site of Paris with flying colors and also reached the third round. In his first appearance on the largest court at the Stade Roland Garros, where he had seriously injured his ankle almost a year earlier, Zverev showed significant improvement and defeated Slovakian Alex Molcan 6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 1.

In the next round, Zverev faces the first sporting endurance test at this French Open against the number twelve seeded American Frances Tiafoe. In the round of sixteen, there could be a duel between the only remaining German tennis professionals.

With an ace, Altmaier made it 5: 26 (6: 7), 0: 7 (7: 6), 9: 7, 1: 6 (7: 6), 7: 4 perfect after 7:5 hours. "Very strong performance!" congratulated legend Boris Becker via Instagram. After he had already fended off two match points in the fourth round, Altmaier celebrated one of the greatest successes of his career.

"This will be enjoyed for a short time and then it will continue," he said aggressively at Eurosport. Against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, Altmaier is now looking for a place in the round of sixteen. "For me, the victory means a lot. I just want to show myself on this big stage. We put the work into it beforehand." Altmaier has built up a team in Argentina. Tennis is more worked on there than in Germany, he justifies this step.

Yannick Hanfmann also relies on an Argentinian coach. However, the 31-year-old from Karlsruhe lost to Argentinian Francisco Cerúndolo 3: 6, 3: 6, 4: 6 in the evening.

Friedsam also eliminated

Shortly before, Anna-Lena Friedsam was the last German starter in the women's competition to fail in the second round. The 29-year-old from Andernach lost to the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova after only 62 minutes 2: 6, 0: 6 and remained largely without a chance. Previously, Jule Niemeier and Tatjana Maria had already been eliminated at the start.

Altmaier started stable, was at times 4: 3 ahead with a break. After losing the tie-break to nil, he had a longer treatment on the middle finger of his left hand. The ice therapy helped, Altmaier converted the fifth chance to win the second set with an overhead ball after more than two hours.

Sinner seemed vulnerable, but initially turned up the heat. In just 27 minutes, the third set was gone from Altmaier's point of view. He does not see his second second-round game as a bonus, Altmaier had emphasized before the game. "If that were a reward, I wouldn't even need to go out on the pitch."

And also in the fourth round he continued to show great fighting spirit. But once again, the world number 79. don't take advantage of the advantage of a break. Altmaier fended off the first match point with a net roller and saved himself again in the tie-break. There he took the set with a fine volley stop - this passage alone lasted 90 minutes. In the fifth round, he served to win with a score of 5: 4, suddenly his nerves fluttered. But once again he took the serve from Sinner - and was finally allowed to celebrate.