It’s a big weekend for sport in Paris, and you can join Dave Tindall for all the Champions League final buildup here …
The first match on Court Philippe-Chatrier doesn’t start for another half-hour or so, but we are under way elsewhere. On Suzanne-Lenglen, Amanda Anisimova and Karolina Muchova are level at 2-2 and on serve. On Simonne-Mathieu, Diego Schwartzman has an early break on Grigor Dimitrov.
Friday’s order of play
Philippe-Chatrier (from 11am BST)
(14) Belinda Bencic v Leylah Fernandez (17)
(1) Novak Djokovic v Aljaz Bedene
Sloane Stephens v Diane Parry
(27) Sebastian Korda v Carlos Alcaraz (6)*
*not before 7.45pm BST
Suzanne-Lenglen (from 10am BST)
(27) Amanda Anisimova v Karolina Muchova
(18) Coco Gauff v Kaia Kanepi
(26) Botic Van De Zandschulp v Rafael Nadal (5)
(3) Alexander Zverev v Brandon Nakashima
Simonne-Mathieu (from 10am BST)
(18) Grigor Dimitrov v Diego Schwartzman (15)
(21) Angelique Kerber v Aliaksandra Sasnovich
(15) Victoria Azarenka v Jil Teichmann (23)
(10) Cameron Norrie v Karen Khachanov (21)
Court 7 (from 10am BST)
(10) J Murray & B Soares v M Mcdonald & T Paul
Varvara Gracheva v Elise Mertens (31)
(23) John Isner v Bernabe Zapata Miralles
(4) D Krawczyk & N Skupski v S Aoyama & H Nys
Court 14 (singles only)
Martina Trevisan v Daria Saville
(9) Felix Auger-Aliassime v Filip Krajinovic
Preamble
It’s the sixth day at Roland Garros and things are heating up, with the men’s and women’s singles draws reaching the third-round stage, where seeded players start eliminating one another and potential paths to glory become clearer.
Speaking of which, there can scarcely have ever been a grand-slam draw more stacked than the top half of the men’s tournament where Rafa Nadal, owner of 13 [thirteen!] French Open titles, is somehow only third-favourite to reach the final.
Botic Van De Zandschulp is the unfortunate soul tasked with trying to derail Nadal today. Defending champion Novak Djokovic faces Aljaz Bedene, while pretender to the throne Carlos Alcaraz will take on Sebastian Korda in the evening game.
Elsewhere around the courts, we’ll see Coco Gauff, Sascha Zverev, and Cam Norrie, plus more British interest in men’s doubles. First up on Chatrier, though: a potential belter between Belinda Bencic and the US Open runner-up, Leylah Fernandez. On y va!
