PARIS — Grand Slam winners Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and Novak Djokovic reached the fourth round of the French Open.
Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, seeded fourth, beat Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-4, 6-2. Two-time Australian Open champion Sabalenka, seeded second, followed her on Court Philippe Chatrier and won against Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-1. “It´s tough to play your best friend,” Sabalenka said according to AP.
After trailing 5-3 in the first set, Sabalenka won eight straight games to take control. “I was just feeling myself and trusting my shots,” Sabalenka said.
Badosa said their friendship does not affect how they play.
“We have a great relationship and then when the match comes we separate things,” she said.
“We are opponents there but, after that and before that, we are always going to be friends.”
Former No. 1 Sabalenka’s best performance at Roland Garros was the semifinals while Rybakina – the only player from Kazakhstan to win a major title – has one quarterfinal appearance.
Russian-born Varvara Gracheva of France advanced to the fourth round of a major for the first time after downing Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 7-5, 6-3.
Djokovic, also, has produced an epic comeback to inflict more Roland Garros heartache on young Italian Lorenzo Musetti and keep alive his chances of remaining World No. 1 at the conclusion of the French Open.
After blowing a set point for a two-sets lead, 37-year-old Djokovic found himself down two-sets-to-one around 1:45 a.m. against an opponent 15 years younger and seemingly with fresher legs.
Zverev advanced to the fourth round of the French Open, staging a furious rally to fend off Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in a five-set marathon.
The German need four hours, 13 minutes to eliminate Griekspoor 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) on the clay courts at Roland Garros in Paris. And he needed to come back from a fifth-set deficit, down a double break in a match littered with break opportunities.
“Wow, incredible match, incredible player, he’s unbelievably dangerous, I always struggle against him,” a relieved Zverev said according to Reuters.
“I don’t like to play against him, but all the credit to him, taking it all the way. An incredible fighter to the end.”
“To be honest the atmosphere today was unbelievable, I loved every single second if it,” Zverev said.
“The support that I get here at this Grand Slam I don’t think I get at any other Grand Slam so I really appreciate it.”
Griekspoor broke Zverev to open the fifth set and again in the fifth game to take a 4-1 lead. But Zverev evened the set at 4-4, breaking his opponent in Griekspoor’s next two service games – aided by three double faults.
In the ensuing tiebreaker, Griekspoor failed to record a point on five of his six serves.
In other men’s third-round play, former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev won 7-6 (4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 against Tomas Machac and 21st-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime beat No.15-seeded American Ben Shelton 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
Their match was halted by rain. Shelton was bothered by a left shoulder issue and had it worked on by a trainer.
Auger-Aliassime has never reached the quarter-finals here, and must get past two-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz.
Medvedev wore leg warmers during his first set against Machac, who beat Djokovic last week in the Geneva Open semifinals, then removed them for the second set.
There was an unusual moment late in the match when chair umpire Damien Dumusois collected a pigeon that fell onto the court.
For almost five hours, the only play was under the roofs of Court Philippe Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Singles play finally resumed elsewhere at 5:37 p.m. and Elina Avanesyan beat Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen won 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). Avanesyan led 5-2 in the third set but Zheng forced a tiebreaker, making a long day even longer.
“Thanks for everybody here for staying to support us,” Avanesyan said. “After a few days here I guess everybody got used to this (weather). At the break we were just playing cards and drinking tea.”
