Carlos Alcaraz maintained his championship defense at Roland Garros on Friday by surviving a late threat. The Spaniard had to change his tactics after a dominant start in order to defeat Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

After a wild three hours and fourteen minutes, the 22-year-old recovered to win the match after falling down early in the fourth set. Alcaraz instantly reacted with a break of his own to secure the victory and go to the fourth round, despite being broken when serving for the match at 5-4.

Alcaraz got out to a fast start, seizing the initiative with forceful forehands, with some of them reaching speeds of above 100 mph (160 km/h). There was late drama on Court Philippe-Chatrier as Dzumhur had break points in every set and eventually converted his first after seven missed.

The versatile Bosnian took a more offensive stance on the baseline, producing spectacular backhand winners down the line while still putting pressure forward. Alcaraz struggled to adapt, making unusual mistakes and even seeming agitated.

Alcaraz eventually capitalized to even the fourth set and halt Dzumhur’s momentum after missing his first nine break opportunities in the third and fourth sets. Seven of the 21 break chances the 19-time tour-level titlist generated throughout the match were converted, including one that ended the match at 5-4 in the fourth. Of his 52 victories, 38 came from his forehand.

According to the ATP Win/Loss Index, Alcaraz has a 30-2 clay record since May of last year, which includes a silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and his first Roland Garros triumph. Earlier in 2025, the ATP Masters 1000 champion, ranked second in the world rankings, won clay-court championships at Monte-Carlo and Rome.

In a highly anticipated fourth-round matchup, Alcaraz, the second seed and the mainstay of the bottom half of the draw, will next take on 13th seed Ben Shelton. In their ATP Head2Head series, he has a 2-0 edge against Shelton.

Since fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal defended his Roland Garros title in 2019–2020, Alcaraz hopes to become the first player to do so. With his sole early departure being in the second round of the US Open last year (loss to van de Zandschulp), the four-time Grand Slam winner has now advanced to at least the fourth round in 11 of his last 12 major appearances.

For the sixth time and for the first time since 2018 at Roland Garros, when he peaked at No. 23 in the ATP Rankings, Dzumhur, 33, was participating in the third round of a major.