Fourth round singles action begins on Sunday in Paris.
Day 8 in the men’s singles draw is headlined by two-time Major champion Carlos Alcaraz playing a man he has a losing record against: a resurgent Felix Auger-Aliassime. There’s also a battle between two top 10 seeds: Hurbert Hurkacz and Grigor Dimitrov. Plus, Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Italy’s Jannik Sinner battles Frenchman Corentin Moutet.
The top four seeds in the top half of the women’s singles draw are all still standing. On Sunday, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marketa Vondrousova, and Ons Jabeur, all face unseeded opposition.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s four most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Sunday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Anastasia Potapova – 11:00am on Court Philippe-Chatrier
After being one point from defeat in the second round at the hands of Naomo Osaka, Swiatek easily dispatched of Marie Bouzkova on Friday. She is now an astounding 41-4 on the year, and is on a 15-match winning streak. And at this tournament specifically, the two-time defending champion has won her last 17 matches.
This marks Potapova’a debut in the second week of a Major, at the age of 23. She arrived in Paris just 13-11 this season, and just 3-4 on clay. Anastasia has dropped only one set through three matches.
But there is not much in Potapova’s game that can threaten Swiatek, especially on the World No.1’s best surface. Iga is a huge favorite to win her first matchup against Anastasia on Sunday.
Matteo Arnaldi vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (9) – Second on Court Suzanne-Lenglen
Tsitsipas had a rough first three months of the season, but he turned that around when he arrived at his best tournament in Monte Carlo, where he won his third title in four years. The very next week, Stefanos advanced to the final in Barcelona, and is now into the round of 16 at Roland Garros for the sixth consecutive year, with the loss of only one set.
This matches Arnaldi’s best Slam result to date, from last summer in New York. The 23-year-old has also dropped just one set, and has already upset two seeded players (Fils, Rublev). His victory over a disgruntled Rublev on Friday was most impressive, easily taking the last two sets after winning the first in a tiebreak. Matteo is now 18-12 this year at tour level, as he looks to break new ground in his young career.
This is another first career meeting on the day. But with a huge edge in experience, and with his confidence restored, Tsitsipas should be favored to achieve his fourth quarterfinal at this event.
Felix Auger-Aliassime (21) vs. Carlos Alcaraz (3) – Third on Court Philippe-Chatrier
After some sloppy play during his second round victory, Alcaraz played excellently against a game Sebastian Korda on Friday evening, taking out the American in straight sets. Carlitos is now vying for his eighth Major quarterfinal, all within his last 10 Major appearances. He is 21-5 on the year, and was the champion in Indian Wells, his only title since winning Wimbledon last July.
Auger-Aliassime has rediscovered his form that had escaped him for over a year. He’s used the momentum from reaching his first Masters 1000 final in Madrid to advance to the round of 16 at a Slam for the first time since January of 2023. In the last round, he comfortably overcame 15-seeded Ben Shelton, who was a bit injured and did not provide much resistance.
Auger-Aliassime is 3-2 against Alcaraz, with all five matches taking place on hard courts. Felix won their first three encounters, while Carlitos has taken the last two in straights, which occurred in 2023 and 2024 in Indian Wells. In their first matchup on the surface Alcaraz grew up on, the two-time Major champion is the favorite to even their head-to-head.
Hubert Hurkacz (8) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (10) – Fourth on Court-Suzanne-Lenglen
Both of these men’s third round matches were interrupted by rain on Friday, and were not concluded until late in the day on Saturday. Hurkacz beat Denis Shapovalov in four, while Dimitrov took out Zizou Bergs in four.
Hubi has endured a bumpy road to this fourth round encounter, playing 13 out of a possible 15 sets. By contrast, Grigor won both of his first two matches in straights. Both are playing for their first quarterfinal at Roland Garros, on a surface that is their weakest.
Their history has been completely one-sided. Dimitrov is 5-0 against Hurkacz, though all five contests have been extremely tight. Three of the five have been decided by a final-set tiebreak, including most recently in Miami this past March, when Hurkacz became enraged after losing a point due to the umpire saying Hubi’s foot touched the net, even though video clearly showed it was the right call. History like that will be a lot for Hurkacz to overcome, and with Dimitrov the fresher player, I like Grigor’s chances of making it 6-0 against Hubi.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Olga Danilovic (Q) vs. Marketa Vondrousova (5) – This marks three out of the last four Majors that Vondrousova has reached the second week. Danilovic has now won six matches since the beginning of qualifying last week, and survived a third-set tiebreak in the last round against Donna Vekic. In this season’s United Cup, Marketa defeated Olga 6-3 in the third.
Coco Gauff (3) vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto – Gauff is yet to drop a set, as she looks to make her third consecutive quarterfinal appearance in Paris. This is the farthest Cocciaretto has ever been at a Major, thanks to victories over two top 20 players (Haddad Maia, Samsonova). Coco has previously won two straight-setters against Elisabetta on hard courts.
Clara Tauson vs. Ons Jabeur (8) – Jabeur played perhaps her best tennis of the year in taking out Leylah Fernandez on Friday in straights. Tauson has already beaten two Major champions to this stage (Ostapenko, Kenin). This is their first career meeting.
Corentin Moutet vs. Jannik Sinner (2) – Sinner won all nine sets he contested in the first week, despite the hip issue he brought into this event. Moutet has won a trio of four-setters to reach the second week of a Major for the second time in his career. This is another first-time encounter.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.