Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played the match of the decade, and maybe the century, at Roland Garros

Grand Slam tennis has many unique charms, but none more so than the first-week epic. This year at Roland Garros, marathon matches haven't been in short supply: Twenty-one of the 64 men's singles first-round matches went the distance to five sets in Paris, a new Open Era record.

But on Thursday, in the second round, Germany's Daniel Altmaier blew them all away in a titanic upset of No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner that lasted 5 hours and 26 minutes, the longest match at the tournament thus far, and the fifth-longest match in Roland Garros history.

Here's how he did it: After the pair split tiebreaks in the first two sets—the first to Sinner, 7-0, and the second, to Altmaier 9-7 on his fifth set point—the German bounced back from a third-set breadstick to win sets four and five and send Sinner home as the third Top 10 seed out of the men's event across the first two rounds. After leading 3-0 in the fourth, Altmaier saved two match points as Sinner served for victory after winning five of the next six games, and needed five match points of his own to close out the victory.

The 24-year-old, who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros in 2020 but hadn't won a match at a major since then until his two wins this year.

Advertising

What it means 🧡

Take a bow @daniel_altmaier!#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/lhYKiiNQht
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 1, 2023

Naturally, tennis fans in the stadium, on their couches, and on Twitter were all transfixed, and only grew further so as the match wore on. Scroll on for some of our favorite commentary:

Advertising

The 5h, 26m match between Altmaier and Sinner is the longest @RolandGarros since 2020 when [Q] Lorenzo Giustino defeated Moutet 6h, 5m (18-16 in 5th set) in the first round.
— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) June 1, 2023

After taking him to a fifth set at the US Open, Daniel Altmaier goes one step further and upsets Jannik Sinner 6-7(0), 7-6(7), 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 after 5h26 of a CRAZY battle!

He got BIG help from a net cord to save the last of two MPs in the 4th set 🤯 pic.twitter.com/UYNSNcvF9N
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) June 1, 2023

Advertising

This Sinner-Altmaier match has been every Italian's nightmare: a German cooking a carrot for over five hours.
— René Denfeld (@Renestance) June 1, 2023

both of Altmaier's two Top 10 wins have come against Italians at RG. he beat then-No.8 Berrettini here in 2020.
— Jason (@Hurleytennis) June 1, 2023

Advertising

That Altmaier Sinner match was reminiscent of a corny underdog protagonist sports movie. But it was real, and it was spectacular.
— Gill Gross 🧋 (@Gill_Gross) June 1, 2023

Altmaier/Sinner was batshit crazy and that type of match is the reason I fell in love with tennis

Nothing beats it
— Tennys Sandgren (@TennysSandgren) June 1, 2023

Advertising

Thinking of all the social media admins who have prepared posts for every outcome of this match multiple times and been ready to pounce on the many MPs 🥲
— Yasmin Syed (@yasminstefsyed) June 1, 2023

You know you're legit when you get a one-minute standing ovation from the Suzanne-Lenglen crowd pic.twitter.com/PX3LcVfAJi
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) June 1, 2023

Advertising

Going 5 hours & 26 minutes on clay is hard to even contemplate. Amazing win for Daniel Altmaier over Jannik Sinner. "I don't know if you can call it a historical match, but I think it was one to remember," Altmaier says. https://t.co/vnFLmo7w1F
— Steve Tignor (@SteveTignor) June 1, 2023

Advertising