With four rounds to go in the singles draws, a lot of history could be made over the next eight days in Paris. On the men’s side, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic continue their race for the most Major titles. On the women’s side, Serena Williams is still chasing her elusive 24th Slam.
Serena is also one match away from reigniting one of the best women’s rivalries of the past decade with Victoria Azarenka. However, two dangerous seeded players stand in their way. And the top three men who are yet to win a Major are in an open half of the draw, opposite “The Big Three.” But on Sunday, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsistipas, and Sascha Zverev all face highly-talented clay courters.
Sunday’s play will begin at 11:00am local time on all courts except Chatrier, which starts at 12:00pm.
Victoria Azarenka (15) vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (31) – 12:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Azarenka leads their head-to-head 5-1, and 2-0 on clay, though they haven’t met on this surface since 2013. That was also the last year Vika advanced this far at the French Open, when she reached the semifinals. Between 2014 and 2020, she was only 4-5 in Paris. And just one of Azarenka’s career 21 singles titles have come on clay, with that occurring over 10 years ago. Pavlyuchenkova has won three WTA events on clay, including her most recent title, three years ago in Strasbourg. The 29-year-old Russian is coming off a semifinal run in Madrid, and an impressive upset over Aryna Sabalenka in the last round. And more impressively, Pavlyuchenkova is 6-1 lifetime in the fourth round of Majors, with her only loss coming in her first appearance at this stage in 2010. A healthy and confident Azarenka remains a slight favorite, but Pavlyuchenkova is difficult to deter when she builds momentum going into the middle weekend of a Slam.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (5) vs. Pablo Carreno Busta (12) – Not before 2:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Tsitsipas is putting together quite the season. The 22-year-old leads the ATP with 36 match wins, and has won two titles on clay. But the highlight of his year must be his comeback from two-sets-down against Rafael Nadal in Melbourne. Stefanos is 2-0 against Pablo, having claimed all four sets contested, which includes a match on clay. Carreno Busta remains one of the sports steadiest yet most underrated players. The 29-year-old has achieved two French Open quarterfinals, and two US Open semifinals. He’s 13-3 this season on clay, and was the champion in Marbella. Carreno Busta is fully capable of making this an extended encounter, but I would be surprised to see Tsitsipas go down in defeat based on his high level of play in 2021.
Daniil Medvedev (2) vs. Cristian Garin (22) – Third on Court Suzanne-Lenglen
Daniil Medvedev… Roland Garros quarterfinalist? That seemed close to unfathomable before this event, as he was 0-4 lifetime here, and on a 1-8 run on clay, dating back to 2019. Yet here he is on the verge of the quarters, having only dropped one set. Garin pulled off quite the escape earlier this week, narrowly surviving two match points in a third-set tiebreak against Mackie McDonald before prevailing 8-6 in the fifth. The 25-year-old from Chile is an excellent clay court player, with five titles on this surface since April of 2019. But at Majors, he’s in unchartered territory, as this is his round of 16 debut. Last month in Madrid, Cristian was up a set and a break over Matteo Berrettini, a few games away from his first Masters semifinal. However, he got so tight, he lost the last 11 games of the match. In the biggest match of his Slam career against the No.2 seed, I fear nerves could impact Garin again. And Medvedev will likely feel little pressure, since he seems as surprised as anyone by his success this week. So even though Cristian defeated Daniil last month in Madrid, I like Medvedev’s chances of becoming a Roland Garros quarterfinalist.
Serena Williams (7) vs. Elena Rybakina (21) – Not before 5:45pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Serena is looking to become a Roland Garros quarterfinalist for the first time since 2015, the last time she won the title. She arrived in Paris with just a 1-2 record this year on clay, but is playing well and has advanced rather comfortably. Rybakina had advanced even more comfortably, without dropping a set, though she’s yet to face a seeded player. The 21-year-old had a losing record on the season prior to this event. As per WTA Insider, she struggled after landing in hard quarantine in Australia, and also had some health issues, but feels refreshed after taking three weeks off from competition last month. This is the farthest Elena has ever advanced at a Major, and her first time facing the GOAT. Her strong baseline game can dictate play, but it can also become error-prone. Serena has not lost a fourth round match at the French Open since her debut in 1998, and I don’t expect that to change on Sunday.
Sascha Zverev (6) vs. Kei Nishikori – Not before 9:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
These two played twice just last month, with Zverev prevailing in both Madrid and Rome. Nishikori made some in-roads from their first match to their second, pushing Sascha to three sets in Italy. Overall Zverev is 4-1 against Nishikori, though notably Kei’s only victory came on clay at the 2018 Monte-Carlo Masters. After dropping the first two sets in his opening round, Sascha has now claimed nine sets in a row. Nishikori came through two grueling, four-hour affairs in the first two rounds, though he only required one set to advance two days ago, as his opponent retired. Kei continues to elevate his level since returning from injury last September, but he hasn’t defeated a top 10 player since 2018. Zverev has won 11 of his last 12 matches, and should be able to reach the quarterfinals here for the third time in four years.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Marketa Vondrousova (20) vs. Paula Badosa (33) – Vondrousova was a surprise finalist in Paris two years ago, yet subsequently missed six months of action due to injury, and was unable to continue that momentum. Badosa saved a match point in an excellent third round match against Ana Bogdan. This will be their first career meeting.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Federico Delbonis – Davidovich Fokina won what was perhaps the match of the tournament, taking out Casper Ruud in five. 30-year-old Delbonis upset Fabio Fognini two days ago to achieve his best career result at a Major. This is another first career meeting.
Sorana Cirstea vs. Tamara Zidansek – Cirstea was a quarterfinalist here in 2009, and is looking to repeat that feat at a Slam for the first time. 23-year-old Zidansek was just 3-8 at Majors before this event. And yes, this is another first career meeting.
Su-Wei Hsieh and Elise Mertens (1) vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Iga Swiatek (14) – Hsieh and Mertens may be the top seeds based on results with other partners, but they were 0-2 as a team coming into this fortnight. Mattek-Sands and Swiatek reached the semifinals of the Miami Open earlier this year.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut (6) vs. Robin Haase and Jan-Lennard Struff – The French team won this tournament three years ago. This is Haase and Struff’s debut event as a team. Struff is also still alive in singles.
Sunday’s full schedule is here.
