South Africa's Kevin Anderson plays a forehand return to Argentina's Diego Schwartzman during their men's singles fourth round match on day nine of The Roland Garros 2018 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 4, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Thomas SAMSON
Kevin Anderson gave away a two-set lead as another breakthrough performance slipped from his grasp in a thrilling fourth-round encounter at the French Open, in Paris, on Monday.
Aiming to progress to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time, the No 6 seed dominated the opening two sets in his last 16 encounter with Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, and he looked on target for a convincing triumph.
Schwartzman hit back, however, narrowly grabbing the third and fourth sets before romping to victory with a decisive performance in the final set.
He earned a 1-6 2-6 7-5 7-6 6-2 win, preventing the big-serving South African from reaching the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the third time in his career.
Anderson’s defeat brought the small SA contingent’s campaign to a close at the prestigious clay court tournament, after doubles specialist Raven Klaasen and regular partner Michael Venus of New Zealand were eliminated in the third round at the weekend.