Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka moved into the semis and for the first time in Paris so did Lorenzo Musetti. Awaiting the Italian? The Spaniard.
Write off
The next time Iga Swiatek goes all down and miserable on herself, will anyone listen? After she was eliminated in the third round at the Italian Open last month the 23-year-old Pole said she had no chance of defending her women's singles title at the French Open. Well? She's in the semis after seeing off the 13th seed Elina Svitolina 6-1, 7-5. Swiatek may well lose to the top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the last four but for a self-styled no-hoper, she has put up a good show. Should she ultimately retain her crown on Day 14, the review will formally launch the phrase "the Swiatek Defence" to describe such antics.
Twilight zone
Soon after her defeat to La Swiatek, the subject of retirement was presented to Elina Svitolina, a 30-year-old mother-of-one and wife of veteran French tennis player Gael Monfils, who at 38, has seen his old muckers, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet, stroll off into the Legends category. "No I wouldn't want to play that long," said Svitolina. "Because obviously I want to have more kids. I want to just have a happy retirement and not play that much because I've been on the tour for so many years." A 440,000 euro cheque for reaching the last eight at the 2025 French Open might serve as an emollient for the chafe of circuit life.
Wheels of style
And so to the start of the men's and women's wheelchair events where the top seeds are both from Japan. Yui Kamiji hurried past Pauline Deroulede 6-2, 6-0 as she looks for her first French Open crown since 2020. Tokito Oda launched his bid for a third consecutive title with a 6-3, 7-5 win over the Frenchman Stephane Houdet who is 35 years older than the world number one. There will be no hard feelings though. The two will be getting together for the doubles tournament.
Lorenzo a go-go
Lorenzo Musetti reached the semi-finals at the French Open for the first time with a composed victory over the 15th seed Frances Tiafoe. The eighth seed won 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 and will take on Carlos Alcaraz who has been something of a nemesis for the 23-year-old Italian who won their first showdown on the senior circuit in 2022 at the final of the Hamburg Open. Since then all five meetings have gone the Spaniard's way, most recently in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters.
Aryna's night wish
And so another night session brought another men's match. On Day 10 it was defending champion Carlos Alcaraz against the 12th seed Tommy Paul. Women's top seed Aryna Sabalenka gave her view on the French tennis federation's (FFT) choice to place only men in the slot because they believe the men's matches will provide value for money as they will last at least two hours as they are best-of-five sets. "Well I definitely have to say that we deserve equal treatment," Sabalenka harrumphed. "There were a lot of great battles in the women's draw. A lot of great matches, which would be cool to see as a night session. So, yeah, I definitely agree that we deserve to be put on a bigger stage. You know what I mean?" Alcaraz appeared to be keen to undermine the FFT's position. He raced into a 6-0, 4-1 lead in 46 minutes as he peppered poor Paul. It was all over 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 in 94 minutes. Oh, men. So unreliable.
