Matteo Arnaldi was in no doubt that his five-hour, 26-minute victory over Frances Tiafoe in the French Open's last 16 was the best match of his career, saying: "It wasn't tennis, it was something else."

Arnaldi became the third Italian to reach this year's Roland-Garros quarter-finals by outlasting Tiafoe in an astonishing match that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The Italian was two points from defeat on two occasions in the fourth set and won two of three tie-breaks in a gruelling, five-set encounter. 

Arnaldi must now recover for his first grand slam quarter-final, where he will face his compatriot Matteo Berrettini on Wednesday.

In his on-court interview, an exhausted Arnaldi said: "I always dreamed of playing a match at Roland-Garros at night.

"This battle against Frances, at one point it wasn't tennis, it was something else!

"You were just playing with everything you had. There had to be a winner tonight, and fortunately it was me. This is definitely the best match I have ever played."

With Flavio Cobolli also into the last eight, this is the first time in the Open Era that three Italians have reached the men's singles semi-finals at a single grand slam, with the trio all falling on the same side of the draw.

Arnaldi has now spent 17 hours and 42 minutes on court at the 2026 French Open.

That is longer than any other player has needed to reach a men's singles quarter-final at any grand slam since 1991, when the ATP started recording match times.