Key events
Zeppieri finds himself facing two break points, but having opened the angle for a forehand down the line, he overhits it and trails 0-2. Meantime, Noskova is giving a decent account of herself against Rybakina, trailing 3-6 2-2.
I’ve not seen Zeppieri play before, but he’s a big lefty so a difficult opponent for anyone on a good day, and having progressed through qualifying before beating Bublik, he’s in form. He forces Ruud through deuce too, playing some decent tennis in the process, but the number four seed holds eventually.
So far today: Rybakina leads Noskova 6-3 1-0; Day leads Keys 6-2 2-2; Etcheverry leads De Minaur 6-3; Hadad Maia leads Shnaider 6-2 2-1 with a break; Coric leads Cachin 6-3 1-0; Sorribes Tormo leads Martic 6-4 1-0 with a break; Schmiedlova leads Bolsova 6-3; and Rudd is playing the first game against Zeppieri
Elena Rybakina is a break up in the first set against the 18-year-old Czech, Linda Noskova. Elsewhere, Kayla Day – the world No 138 – has taken charge of the first set against her compatriot, No 20 seed Madison Keys. Here’s a roundup of all Wednesday’s news:
Preamble
Salut! And welcome to Roland-Garros 2023 – day five!
Obviously there’s an entire constellation of stars performing for our delectation as we complete round two. It’s fair to say that, at first glance, they all have fairly straightforward matches, but the presence of Thiago Seyboth Wild, who meets Guido Pella this afternoon, reminds us that once they start hitting balls, we’ve not a clue what’ll happen.
Early in the day, we get to enjoy Casper Ruud, Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys – not bad. Then, in the second tranche of matches, come Iga Swiatek, Jannik Sinner and the 16-year-old prodigy, Mirra Andreeva – making her Grand Slam debut and flying the family flag after her older sister Erika was eliminated yesterday. It will not be long before she’s famous for something other than finding Andy Murray beautiful.
After that, Ons Jabeur, Coco Gauff and Francis Tiafoe – whose match with Aslan Karatsev could be a belter – sustain us, before Taylor Fritz closes the session against Arthur Rinderknech, who eliminated Richard Gasquet in a French derby earlier in the week. And if that wasn’t enough, we’ve got Alex De Minaur, Griggzy Dimitrov, Tommy Paul and Bianca Andreescu knocking about, while Petra Martic v Sara Sorribes Tormo is my prediction for sleeper match of the day.
On y va!