On Thursday, Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo – brother of Francisco – was on court for a little over three and a half hours as he came from two sets down to beat an ailing Jannik Sinner in the second round.
Two days later, the world number 56 was involved in another five-set epic, beating Spain’s Martin Landaluce 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (10-8) to advance to the second week at a major for the first time.
Lasting five hours and 58 minutes, it is the third-longest match in Roland Garros history and the longest since fifth-set tie-breaks were introduced in 2022.
His fourth-round opponent is Italian Matteo Berrettini, who contested five tie-breaks and took five hours and 13 minutes to beat Francisco Comesana. He won the final-set shootout 15-13.
Berrettini, 30, is playing in the French Open for the first time since reaching the quarter-finals in 2021, and his first major since last year’s Wimbledon due to injury.
Unseeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi clocked in two minutes shy of the five-hour mark is his win over Raphael Collignon, with Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca – who downed Novak Djokovic – Rafael Jodar, Jesper de Jong, and Casper Ruud contesting marathon matches on Friday.
Cobolli and 11th seed Andrey Rublev were the only players to advance in straight sets.
“This is just outrageous,” Annabel Croft said on BBC Radio 5 Live’s French Open Daily podcast.
“It’s not just the physical side of it, it’s the mental capacity to keep focusing for that amount of time while you’re sprinting back and forth.
“I think the crowds that came here today have been absolutely treated to some spectacular drama and entertainment.”