Here is Kevin Mitchell’s report from earlier on. Tumaini Carayol’s verdict on the men’s draw will be online soon.
So, Thiem gets the job done in five sets, although that marathon is the last thing he needed with Diego Schwartzman and then potentially Nadal in the semis. As for Hugo Gaston, even in defeat he joins Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner as a future star who announced themselves in Paris today.
Dominic Thiem beats Hugo Gaston in five sets!
Thiem misses his first serve but finds the crucial second, then forces Gaston into an awkward baseline volley that flies long. He hoovers up a short return for match point, and moves forward to close out the next point - only for Gaston to pass him with a flying backhand! He can’t get near a fierce forehand on the next point. Match point No 2, and this time his serve doesn’t come back!
Gaston matches Thiem’s power hitting but opts for another surprise slice and nets at 15-all. The crowd love him anyway, and rightly so. He’s not done yet, outlasting Thiem on the next point. Let, fault ... double fault. A break-back point for Gaston ...
Thiem holds to take a 4-3 lead, and bludgeons his way to a break point in the next game. Gaston tries one drop shot too many, and it nestles in the net. Suddenly, Thiem has the chance to serve for the match...
Thiem resorting to brute force, meeting another cute drop shot with a ferocious return that Gaston does well to duck under. We’re locked at two-all in the fifth.
Diego Schwarzman wins 6-1, 6-3, 6-4! The third set with Sonego was going with serve until the 10th game, when the No 12 seed pounced to break. He’ll play the winner here.
Gaston wins the fourth set! This is extraordinary. Thiem looks like a battered old fighter up against the ropes, still completely unable to impose his game on Gaston. This is going to a decider, and the momentum is with the wildcard...
Gaston holds serve to move 5-2 ahead, and makes in-roads on the Thiem serve at 15-30. The US Open champion is rocking, but pulls out some big first serves to hold, and force his young opponent to serve out the fourth set.
Hello, Niall McVeigh here to keep you updated. Gaston has refused to relent after snatching the third set, breaking early against a tired-looking Thiem and racing into a 4-1 lead.
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I’m going to step away from the blog now, but it’ll continue to be updated with any significant developments as Thiem and Schwartzman battle to earn places in the quarter-finals, where they would if both successful play each other. Bye!
Diego Schwartzman takes a two-set lead against Lorenzo Sonego!
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Hugo Gaston breaks to take a set off Dominic Thiem!
Gaston earns a couple more break points. Thiem saves the first, and hits the kind of serve that should lead to him saving the second as well, but Gaston loops a defensive return back into play, Thiem doesn’t gobble it up, and Gaston wins the point from there. He’s played brilliantly and deserves at least another set. Thiem leads 6-4, 6-4, 5-7!
Gaston holds to love, and leads 6-5 in the third set. This may well end up going down in the record books as a straightforward straight-sets win for the highly-favoured seed, but it’s been a lot more fun than that sounds.
Break point down, set point down, Thiem powers a forehand down the line which clips the top of the net and lands the right side, from the Austrian’s point of view. He saves another break point, and another, before another net cord goes his way to give him game point, and he holds with a service winner. It’s 5-5 in the third and Gaston is purring, but not quite getting the breaks.
Hugo Gaston is playing some sweet tennis now. It took a while for him to relax into the challenge of facing the No3 seed on Chatrier, but he is now, one feels, playing quite close to his potential, and it’s enough for him to cling on to the Austrian’s coat-tails. Thiem serves to stay in the third set, at 6-4, 6-4, 4-5.
Play resumes. Sonego will need more than some cream to recover from the position he finds himself in here, trailing as he does 1-6, 0-3.
A doctor has come on to poke Lorenzo Sonego’s right forearm. I’m not entirely sure what’s wrong with it. Some cream is being applied.
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Schwarzman breaks in the first game of the second set against Sonego, and then holds to go 6-1, 2-0 ahead.
Er, Thiem breaks back. Still, it was fun while it lasted. Gaston leads 3-2 in the third set, on serve.
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Gaston breaks! There might be a small crowd, but with the roof closed it sounds pretty impressive as it gets behind the French outsider, who seems to be enjoying himself now. There are some excellent shots here, plus a lot of fist-pumping and general crowd-encouraging.
Diego Schwartzman takes the first set against Lorenzo Sonego
Meanwhile on Lenglen Schwartzman breaks again to take a 5-1 lead. He serves for the set, and though he lets a 40-15 lead slip he wraps up the set on his third set point, when the ball catches the top of the net, pauses to consider its options and then plops unreturnably down on the other side.
Thiem and Gaston play a brilliant 29-shot rally, which ends with Gaston whipping a backhand winner crosscourt. That sets up game point for the Frenchman, and an overhit Thiem backhand ends it. Gaston is 2-1 up in the third.
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Play is back under way elsewhere. On Lenglen Schwartzman eases into a 4-1 lead over Sonego, whose surname always reminds me of this De La Soul classic:
Thiem goes two sets up against Gaston
Thiem serves for the second set and races to a 40-0 lead. Gaston saves one, but he can barely get the next serve back in play, and Thiem puts the forehand away! He leads 6-4, 6-4.
There are signs of life beyond Philippe Chatrier: the covers are off on the other courts, they’ve been brushed and readied, and play should restart in about 10 minutes.
Thiem breaks! A wonderful whipped forehand, so much topspin it barely bounced, gets him in the game at 40-30, Gaston can only send the ball looping harmlessly over the net, and Thiem puts it away. Gaston then hits one long and one into the net, and he’s 2-3 down in the second.
Thiem has wrapped up the first set against Gaston 6-4 in 42 largely untroubled minutes. Gaston’s first-serve percentage of 50% is extremely poor and will need to be improved if he’s to have any chance here.
Dominic Thiem has broken and held, and leads Hugo Gaston 5-3, with the Frenchman serving to stay in the first set. Thiem is 11-1 ahead on winners and is doing his whole massive-wind-up, extravagant-followthrough thing with destructive results.
The roof is back on Chatrier, and the players are back out. So, too, is the sun outside, but it’ll take a while for the covers to come off and action to get back under way on the other courts.
Play suspended!
There are bright skies above Paris, but despite that rain is falling, and play has been suspended. The roof over Chatrier was closed at the start of the day, opened at some point, and is now being closed again.
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Felix Gill, the 18-year-old Briton about whom I could tell you little when I last updated you, has completed a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over the Italian Leonardo Malgaroli in the first round of the boys’ singles. I can tell you that after some research I believe Gill to be a Birmingham City fan. It’s not a lot, but it’s better than nothing (slightly).
The last two senior singles matches of the day are now underway. Hugo Gaston and the No3 seed, Dominic Thiem, are at 2-2 in the first, while Diego Schwartzman, the Argentinian No12 seed, has snaffled an early break to go 2-0 up against Lorenzo Sonego.
Nadia Podoroska has wrapped up the win against Barbora Krejcikova, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, and the world No131 will play Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals. Podoroska had never won a match at a Grand Slam before this tournament, and the prize money for reaching the quarter-finals (€283,500) is more than the 23-year-old had won in her entire career before this tournament (€257,350). Quite a few people are redefining their careers in Paris, and even if she gets no further Podoroska has certainly been one of them.
British interest dept: Felix Gill, an 18-year-old Briton about whom I’m afraid I can tell you little, is playing the Italian Leonardo Malgaroli at the moment in the boys’ singles and looks set fair for round two: he has just gone a double break up in the third and thus leads 5-7, 6-4, 4-1.
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Sinner celebrates in understated style. He is the first person to reach the last eight on his debut appearance at Roland Garros since Rafael Nadal, who happens to be his next opponent. After surprise victories earlier today from a 19-year-old (Swiatek) and an Italian (Trevisan), this was one from a 19-year-old Italian. This is an example of what he had to say on court post-match, when he barely cracked a smile:
It has been tough. Best of five sets it’s a little bit different. If you lose one set just try to keep going. I knew I was playing quite well, even in the third set. I tried to be focused, the first service game in the fourth set, and then it went quite well.
Jannik Sinner beats Sascha Zverev 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3!
Sinner serves for the match against Zverev, and makes nervous progress. A double fault to start, a backhand shanked wide at 30-15. Then the serve comes good; he lands one on the line, too deep for Zverev who can’t get it back, then another strong serve out wide, Zverev gets it back in play but too gently, and Sinner thrashes it away! The No6 seed it out!
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It looks like Nadia Podoroska will be next to cross Svitolina’s path: she’s playing Barbora Krejcikova at the moment, and leads 2-6, 6-2, 4-2.
Elina Svitolina beats Carline Garcia 6-1, 6-3
Elina Svitolina confirms her place in the quarter-finals by thrashing Caroline Garcia in three minutes over an hour! Garcia only held serve twice on her way out of the tournament.
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Zverev pushes Sinner again on his serve, but Sinner manages the key points - at 30-30 and at deuce - brilliantly, and takes his second game point to go 4-1 up in the third.
On Chatrier Elina Svitolina is having a pleasant afternoon stroll to the quarter-finals, as world No45 and former quarter-finalist Caroline Garcia completely fails to mount a decent challenge. Garcia has actually hit more winners than Svitolina (12-10), but also many more unforced errors (30-11), and a win percentage on first serve of 38% and on second serve of just 17% doesn’t cut much mustard.
Hello again! That game really was an epic: 19 minutes and 54 seconds of tension, the longest rally clocking in at 25 shots. The clock ticks for Zverev, who has just held to 15 to make it 1-3 in the third and swiftly return to pressuring the Sinner serve.
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An epic, possibly pivotal, game. Sinner can’t half hit a rising ball with power and pace, and he looks in control of his service game at 40-15 before Zverev grinds back to deuce, the first of three amid some epic rallies and power-hitting, as well as a replayed point after a Zverev backhand is called out when it was in, but Sinner digs in and takes the game with a deft and rare dropshot at the net. Massive hold. 3-0.
And on that bombshell I’ll hand you back to Simon.
An erratic service game from Zverev takes Sinner to two break points, the first of which is converted after a long rally is followed by a forehand into the net from the German. Sinner has the break! He’s four games away.
Sinner sends out a statement with a comfortable service hold to start the fourth set. This will be a real test of stamina and resolve for the 19-year-old against one of the most resilient in the business.
Svitolina wins the first set against Garcia, 6-1
French hopes that Carloline Garcia’s break-back against Elina Svitolina might preface a bigger recovery went swifty to dust, with Svitolina romping through the next three games to take the first set in half an hour.
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Zverev wins the third set against Sinner, 6-4
Zverev has himself three set points in no time before two rather slapdash errors and then a double fault let Sinner back to deuce. Two more set points are saved, the second with a vicious forehand pass from Sinner before Zverev finally clinches the set after a backhand volley forces the Italian out wide and he can only return into the net. Zverev’s fighting qualities won out in that set.
Sinner’s forehand is a thing of forceful beauty but a couple of errors let Zverev back to deuce on the Italian’s service game, the first of three deuces from which Zverev earns a break point with a terrific diving recovery forehand from the back of court that Sinner nets. His serve is wobblier here too and a double-fault gives Zverev the break. 5-4 and the German will serve for the set.
Podoroska has won the second set 6-2 to take her match against Krejcikova into a decider while Garcia has broken back. She’s 1-3 against Svitolina now in the first set.
Seeds may be falling left right and centre in the women’s draw, but the highest-ranked player remaining, Svitolina, isn’t messing about. She’s broken Garcia again to go 3-0 up in the first set. Zverev meanwhile holds serve with morale-boosting ease for 4-4 in the third set against Sinner.
And Podoroska has broken to go 4-2 in the second set against Krejcikova, who’s a set up.
Elina Svitolina and home favourite Caroline Garcia have just got under way on Philippe-Chatrier, with Svitolina breaking straight away. She held serve comfortably to go 2-0 up.
Sinner holds to 15 to go 4-3 up in the third set. He’s only two games away from a big scalp.
Sinner breaks back! Zverev romps to a 40-0 lead on serve but Sinner comes right back at him with power and precision to bring it back to deuce, seizes the advantage by punishing a slightly limp volley at the net by Zverev to rip a passing shot down the line. Then, the break is sealed following a brutal rally that ends with the German overhitting. Terrific tennis from the Italian. 3-3 in the third
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A comfortable hold to 15 for Sinner, working Zverev around the court impressively from the baseline, brings him back to 2-3, a break down but two sets up.
Elsewhere, Krejcikova and Podoroska are tied at 2-2 in their second set, with Krejcikova having romped the first 6-2.
Zverev struggles again on his serve and is in bother at 15-30 after a lovely mid-court backhand pass from Sinner, but rallies with the aid of a casual dump into the net from the Italian and eventually holds for 3-1.
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Thanks Simon. And Sinner’s maintained his foothold in the third set by holding serve to 30 – he’s still a break down at 1-2 but two sets up and with an upset in his reach.
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Zverev has broken Sinner in the first game of the third set, a nine-minute epic which featured four deuces, two of Sinner’s three aces in the match so far and only one break point.
With that I’m going to hand over to Tom Davies for a while. Back in a bit!
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Nadal beats Korda 6-1, 6-1, 6-2!
Rafael Nadal earns his first match point, at 30-40 and after five minutes shy of two hours. Sebastian Korda misses his first serve and Nadal seizes upon his second, smashes a clean winner down the line, and it’s all over!
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Another break and another hold from Nadal and from 2-0 up in the third set Korda is serving to stay in the match at 2-5!
Sinner breaks again to take the second set against Zverev and lead 6-3, 6-3! It’s turning into quite the day for 19-year-old underdogs.
Nadal breaks back and then holds to love, to open up a 3-2 lead in the third set. And then he just keeps going, winning the first three points of Korda’s next service game to earn three break points, and winning the first of those when Korda sends a forehand into the bottom of the net. It’s now 6-1, 6-1, 4-2.
Here’s Reuters on Martina Trevisan’s victory over Kiki Bertens:
Italian Martina Trevisan became the first qualifier in eight years to reach the quarter-finals at the French Open by beating Dutch fifth seed Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-4 on Sunday.
The world number 159 played aggressively throughout to set up a meeting with Polish teenager Iga Swiatek, who knocked out top seed Simona Halep.
“I came here two weeks ago to play the qualifiers and today I’m here in the quarter finals. I can’t believe it,” said Trevisan, who will break into the top 100 of the WTA rankings on Monday. “I’m really honoured to play on this court with Bertens; she’s an incredible player.”
After 16 consecutive defeats to top 100 players across all levels from 2017 to 2020, Trevisan has now posted four consecutive wins over such opponents in one week.
She is the first qualifier to reach the last eight at Roland Garros since Yaroslava Shvedova in 2012, and the 10th overall in the women’s draw since tennis turned professional in 1968. Only Belgian Filip Dewulf, in the men’s tournament, managed to go one step further, in 1997.
Trevisan raced into a 5-1 lead in the opening set - winning 10 points in a row at one point - on the back of some patient play and excellent court coverage before Bertens eventually found her feet.
The 26-year-old Italian converted three break points to take the opening set, with her points at the net and ability to change the pace of rallies leaving a bewildered Bertens searching unsuccessfully for answers.
Trevisan opened a 3-0 lead in the second but Bertens went up a gear to break back and threaten a comeback. Trevisan, however, held her nerve and wrapped up victory with an exquisite lob on her third match point on Bertens’s serve.
Zverev insists that a Sinner forehand had gone wide. The umpire comes over to check the line judge’s call and agrees that it was in. Zverev does not concur, and tells him so repeatedly. Sinner is serving for a 5-3 lead in the second set.
Sinner breaks again to open up a 3-1 lead in the second set! Maybe a slight loss of focus there from Zverev, who was punished for taking his eye off the ball by being broken to love!
Kevin Mitchell has filed a report on Iga Swiatek’s magnificent victory over Simona Halep:
Simona Halep stepped on to Court Philippe Chatrier at the start of day eight at Roland Garros as the logical favourite to drive on to her second French Open title, riding a career-best 17-match winning streak and playing outstanding tennis.
A little over an hour later she was out of the tournament in the fourth round, and the remarkable Polish teenager, Iga Swiatek, was celebrating a 6-1, 6-2 victory that not only swept her into the quarter-finals of a slam for the first time but elevated her to the top of the chasing pack in pursuit of the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.
It was a breathtaking performance. In a tournament that has already thrown up a string of surprises in both singles draws, it was the most remarkable. Many observers predicted a high-grade contest; but not even Swiatek’s inner circle, probably, expected her to so completely dismantle the solid clay-court game of the top seed and world No2, a champion here two years ago and at Wimbledon last summer.
Much more here:
Zverev had five break points in that opening set and took none of them, while Sinner only had one and won it. Meanwhile Korda has just had a couple of break points, his first since the first game of the match, and finally taken one! That’s the first game of the third set, but it still looks a long way back for him.
Jannik Sinner serves for the opening set against Zverev, saves two break points, and when he earns his first set point the German slams his racket to the ground in frustration. Sinner can’t win that one, double-faults when given a second chance, but he takes his third to win the opening set 6-3!
Korda is broken again, and Nadal opens up a two-set lead, 6-1, 6-1, in a little over an hour.
Nadal however remains largely untroubled. He has broken in the second set, and though Korda just held to make it 1-2 he is simply making too many errors: Nadal has only had to hit six winners, because Korda has been gifting points to him with unforced errors - he’s up to 25 now.
There’s more drama on Lenglen, where the No6 seed, Alex Zverev, is 1-4 down to Jannik Sinner in the opening set, and has just had the doctor on for a chat - the wind is apparently whipping up clay dust that is playing havoc with his vision.
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Nadal wraps up the opening set, 6-1. The wind is apparently vicious in Paris today, and Korda is struggling with it. To be fair, if it’s windy even at ground level it must be positively huricane-force at Korda height.
An update on next year’s Australian Open, courtesy of Reuters:
Roger Federer and Serena Williams have confirmed they will take part in the 2021 Australian Open, with the year’s first Grand Slam in Melbourne expected to allow fans to fill up to 50% of seats, Tennis Australia (TA) boss Craig Tiley said on Sunday.
The return of fans will mark a big change for Melbourne, which has been under a strict coronavirus lockdown for nearly three months. The state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, accounts for 90% of Australia’s 894 COVID-19-related deaths.
“Roger this morning just confirmed publicly he’ll be here. Serena Williams will be here obviously trying to get Margaret Court’s record, so we’re excited about the players that will be here and what we’ll put on,” Tiley told Channel Nine.
TA are planning to establish bio-security ‘bubbles’ in cities across Australia from early December and are looking at giving players who arrive early Down Under more tournament play opportunities to prepare for the Jan. 18-31 Grand Slam, which had over 800,000 fans at its Melbourne Park site this year.
“We’re going to have six weeks of tennis, in fact more tennis and events than ever before,” said Tiley. “[Players] will have two weeks of quarantine that they will do in cities around Australia and for those two weeks we’re creating a bubble from the hotel to the courts in a training environment, not too dissimilar to what’s happened with the AFL and NRL.
By then, we expect the border to be completely open and we can move from city to city and then come down to Melbourne for the Australian Open for the last two weeks of January.”
Korda holds to love, and he’s on the board. Still 1-5 down in the opening set, but one step at a time.
Here’s Sebastian Korda on Rafael Nadal:
He’s my biggest idol. He’s one of the reasons I play tennis. Just watching him play, unbelievable competitor. Just from him I have the never-give-up mentality. Whenever I’m on court, I try to be like him.
He seems a little awestruck at present, sadly. Korda is 4-0 down in games, but 13-3 up in unforced errors.
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Rafael Nadal is on Chatrier now, where he plays the giant 20-year-old American Sebastian Korda. The match is two games old: Korda had two break points in the first of them but couldn’t take one; Nadal had one break point in the second and could. It’s 2-0.
Martina Trevisan is beaming as she’s interviewed on court:
I came here two weeks ago to play the qualifiers, today I’m in the quarter-finals. Oh my god, I can’t believe it. For me [Bertens] is an incredible player, so I can’t believe it. Now I will relax, I’ll have a massage, then I’ll think about the next match.
No5 seed Kiki Bertens beaten 6-4, 6-4 by world No159 Martina Trevisan!
Bertens slips to 0-40, and Trevisan has three break points! Bertens saves one with a forehand that slides out of the Italian’s reach, another when Trevisan skies a backhand that lands well long, and takes control of the next point as well, only for Trevisan to lift a defensive backhand lob which lands bang on the line for a winner! Trevisan wins 6-4, 6-4!
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Trevisan twice served for the first set and failed, and now she’s served for the match and failed again! Bertens takes a 0-30 lead, and after a decent approach shot approaches the net hoping for an easy putaway and three break points. Trevisan though gets the ball to dip over the net, Bertens’ low volley goes into the net, and an unforced error later it’s 30-30. But Bertens whips an unreturnable backhand crosscourt to earn a break point, and Trevisan can’t save it! The Italian leads 6-4, 5-4 and it’s back on serve in the second set.
Trevisan breaks to take a 5-3 lead over Bertens in the second set and will serve for the match!
Iga Swiatek has a chat on Eurosport:
I’m kind of speechless. I’m super-tired because I was so focused for the whole match. I could think about only tennis. I’m just surprised that I made it, playing against a player like that, and I remember how I played last year. I can see that I made huge progress and I’m kind of proud of myself.
[Last year] it was my first big match on a stadium like that. I’ve gained so much experience since then, I’ve played all these matches which were a good lesson for me. Right now I feel I can handle the pressure. It’s kind of weird, because I think only about tennis and a couple of years ago school was in first place, so priorities changed a lot. I feel like I need to find something else in my life, a passion for music or whatever, but right now I’m focused only on the tennis.
Arthur Fery has completed an apparently straightforward 6-4, 6-3 win over Mehdi Sadaoui in the first round the boys’ singles. The other Briton in the draw, Felix Gill, plays Leonardo Malgaroli later today on Court 5.
That Trevisan-Bertens match, though, is providing plenty of drama, if not the same sense of high-octane brilliance. Bertens has broken back in the second set, turning a 0-3 deficit to 3-3.
That was jaw-dropping stuff from first to last. Swiatek was simply magnificent today, and I’m seeing nothing in the Trevisan-Bertens match, on either side of the net, that looks likely to stop her in the last eight.
Iga Swiatek thrashes No1 seed Simona Halep 6-1, 6-2
She’s done it! There’s a brilliant powered crosscourt winner, a fantastic drop-shot/lob double-whammy, and Iga Swiatek sweeps to 40-0 and three match points. Halep saves the first, taking control of the point with a vicious return from a second serve and never letting go, but a brilliant and unreturnable serve next up wins it! What a performance!
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Halep slips from 40-0 to deuce, but eventually holds with relative ease, in a shade less than three minutes. Swiatek will have to serve for it. On Lenglen Bertens also holds, saving a break point on the way, to make it 1-3 in the second.
Swiatek holds, and Halep will serve to stay in the match at 1-6, 1-5.
The winners of these two matches will play each other in the quarter-finals. Anyone who picked Trevisan and Swiatek to come out of the top quarter of the draw is a liar.
Trevisan has also broken in the second set, and has just held on to her own epic service game, saving a break point along the way, to go 6-4, 3-0 up against Bertens. Seven minutes and 11 seconds, if you’re wondering.
If you’re anywhere near a television or a computer, it’s worth trying to catch a bit of the Halep-Swiatek match. Another Halep service game turns into an absolute epic: three break points saved, net cords (again, Swiatek getting the lucky bounce this time), good drop shots chased down, bad drop shots into the net. It clocks in at eight minutes and 36 seconds this time, and it ends with Swiatek taking her fourth break point to move 4-1 and a double-break up in the second!
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, the top seeds in the men’s doubles having won at both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019, are in a spot of bother: they have lost the first set against Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, the 15th seeds, 6-4.
Arthur Fery, the British ninth seed in the boys’ singles, has won the first set of his match against Mehdi Sadaoui 6-4. It’s 1-1 in the second as I type.
Two players in the girls’ tournament test positive for Covid-19
Two players in the junior girls’ tournament at the French Open have tested positive for Covid-19. Organisers announced the latest positive tests on the day the junior events get under way at Roland Garros.
A statement read: “In line with the tournament’s health and safety protocol, the two players have been removed from the draw. In total, approximately 3,000 tests have been carried out since Thursday, September 17.”
At 40-30, about to actually hold for a change, Halep serves a double fault to let her opponent back into the game, and another game point is lost when Swiatek pulls off an excellent backhand drop volley. From there Swiatek manoeuvres herself to a couple of break points, both lost after net cords, the first letting a Halep forehand plop helpfully over, the second pushing a Siatek backhand (probably heading wide, to be fair) over the baseline, and Halep eventually holds. The game lasted eight minutes and seven seconds, the longest of the match.
Trevisan breaks Bertens to take the opening set!
Having twice served for the set without so much as getting a set point, Trevisan attacks the Bertens serve and earns two. She takes the second of them to win the opening set 6-4!
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Kiki Bertens has completely turned the tide on Lenglen. 5-1 down in the opening set and in all sorts of trouble, she broke Trevisan to 15 to get back to 5-2, held, and has now broken to love. It’s 5-4, and back on serve!
Swiatek hits an amazing backhand here, leaping into it to get a better angle from which to thrash it down the line. Halep is wrongfooted and basically being monstered. Swiatek holds to love.
Swiatek breaks in the first game of the second set! This is absolutely astonishing stuff. Halep is playing a little conservatively, and Swiatek is just bullying her now.
No1 seed Simona Halep thrashed in opening set!
Swiatek holds to 30, smashing a forehand down the line to seal it. She’s won the opening set 6-1, has hit 17 winners on the way, and the world No2 on the other side of the net seems absolutely helpless.
Not so Kiki Bertens, though: she’s clawed a break back, and is thus 2-5 down in the opening set.
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There is a very similar story playing out on Lenglen, where the Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan is 5-1 up and serving for the opening set against the Dutch fifth seed, Kiki Bertens. Bertens has hit 13 unforced errors and four double faults there.
Swiatek dials down the power to hit a precise drop-shot and go a double break up in the opening set against Halep, and the Pole is now serving for it.
From 0-30 Swiatek holds to 30, pounding the ball around the court, making Halep sprint and stretch, taking every opportunity to attack the net. Halep is 1-4 down and has only made one unforced error - she is simply being pummelled.
Interesting start on Chatrier, where Iga Swiatek has swept to a 3-0 lead over Simona Halep in the opening set. The Polish 19-year-old also played Halep in last year’s French Open, losing 6-1, 6-0, so this match is already following a very different scipt.
British interest dept: 18-year-old Arthur Fery, the ninth seed in the boys’ singles, is in action on Court 11, against Mehdi Sadaoui of France. Very early stages there, but I can report that he has a break point in the first game.
Here’s Reuters’ preview of today’s play:
Italian teenager Jannik Sinner has never reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam before and the 19-year-old will have the sternest test of his fledgling career when he takes on sixth seed Alexander Zverev at the French Open on Sunday.
Having upset 11th seed David Goffin in the first round, Sinner, last year’s NextGen ATP Finals champion, has come to grips with the slow claycourts this year to mount a serious challenge.
His run follows some notable results in the clay swing that began last month, including a famous victory over world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas in Rome.
Sinner, however, was very blunt in his self-assessment, stating that he still needed to improve in best-of-five-sets matches despite having not yet dropped a set.
“I wish I would be like that. I wish I would win every match in three sets, then I wouldn’t need to play five sets as well,” Zverev, who has already dropped two sets at Roland Garros, said.
“Sometimes you have to dig deep. He’s young. I’ve been at his age, where he is at now, I know. Physically, he probably still needs to improve. Tennis-wise...he’s playing absolutely great.”
Zverev has won all six of his matches that have gone to a decider in Paris and six of his last seven anywhere, with that one loss coming in a painful defeat to Dominic Thiem in last month’s U.S. Open final.
Having also reached the semi-finals in Australia, the 23-year-old German is seeking to cap his most successful year in the majors by annexing a maiden Grand Slam title.
In Sunday’s other matches, women’s top seed Simona Halep takes on Polish teenager Iga Swiatek while third seed Elina Svitolina goes toe-to-toe with local hope Caroline Garcia.
Rafa Nadal continues his pursuit of a record-extending 13th title at Roland Garros when he faces 20-year-old American Sebastian Korda.
The son of Petr Korda, the 1998 Australian Open champion and 1992 Roland Garros finalist, underlined his genuine promise when he saw off big-serving compatriot John Isner in the second round.
Hello world!
Welcome to day 13, a day in which we are scheduled to see the women’s first, third and fifth seeds as well as the men’s second, third and sixth seeds, plus of course a few of the unexpected successes that have been a feature of this tournament: Martina Trevisan, the 26-year-old world No159, plays Kiki Bertens, the Dutchwoman who was wheeled off court after beating another Italian, Sara Errani, in three gruelling sets in round two but was then entirely untroubled in easing through round three. Sebastian Korda, the 20-year-old world No213, qualifier and son of Petr, plays Rafael Nadal for the first time. Plus the weather forecast is quite good (unlike tomorrow, when it is horrid).
Today’s order of play in full:
Court Philippe Chatrier
(1) Simona Halep (Rom) v Iga Swiatek (Pol), Sebastian Korda (USA) v (2) Rafael Nadal (Spa), (3) Elina Svitolina (Ukr) v Caroline Garcia (Fra), Hugo Gaston (Fra) v (3) Dominic Thiem (Aut)
Court Suzanne Lenglen
Martina Trevisan (Ita) v (5) Kiki Bertens (Ned), (6) Alexander Zverev (Ger) v Jannik Sinner (Ita), Lorenzo Sonego (Ita) v (12) Diego Sebastian Schwartzman (Arg), (6) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) & Nicolas Mahut (Fra) v (9) Wesley Koolhof (Ned) & Nikola Mektic (Cro)
Court Simonne Mathieu
(1) Juan Sebastian Cabal (Col) & Robert Farah (Col) v (15) Jurgen Melzer (Aut) & Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra), Nadia Podoroska (Arg) v Barbora Krejcikova (Cze), Andreea Mitu (Rom) & Patricia Maria Tig (Rom) v (2) Timea Babos (Hun) & Kristina Mladenovic (Fra)
Court 7: (8) Veronika Kudermetova (Rus) & Shuai Zhang (Chn) v (9) Sofia Kenin (USA) & Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA), (12) Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) & Horia Tecau (Rom) v (7) Mate Pavic (Cro) & Bruno Soares (Bra), (5) Gabriela Dabrowski (Can) & Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) v Marta Kostyuk (Ukr) & Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr), Asia Muhammad (USA) & Jessica Pegula (USA) v (16) Cori Gauff (USA) & Catherine McNally (USA)
Court 14: Frederik Nielsen (Den) & Tim Puetz (Ger) v (5) Ivan Dodig (Cro) & Peter Polansky (Can), (1) Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) & Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) v (14) Alexa Guarachi (Chi) & Desirae Krawczyk (USA), (10) Hayley Carter (USA) & Luisa Stefani (Bra) v (7) Shuko Aoyama (Jpn) & Ena Shibahara (Jpn), Pablo Cuevas (Uru) & Feliciano Lopez (Spa) v Nicholas Monroe (USA) & Tommy Paul (USA)
