Key events
Carreno Busta now leads Tirante 7-6 7-5; Rublev leads Borges 2-0 3-2; Linette retrieves one break to trail Swiatek 4-6 3-4.
Linette made it close for a bit, but Swiatek breaks her again to lead 6-4 4-1, and this is almost over. I can’t wait to see her match with Kostyuk, though, because she’ll need all her copious wiles to handle the power and point-construction that awaits her.
On Mathieu, Jodar and Michelsen are ready to go, telly showing us that the former only has one man in his box. I guess he’s only 19 and his mates are busy – his rise has been remarkable. At the start of the year, he was ranked 168, but a win in Marrakesh, followed by a semi in Barca and quarter in Madrid, means he came to Paris seeded in only his second slam.
And if that isn’t enough, Jannik Sinner, who beat him in Madrid, is a fan:
“He’s already a very solid player, and I think he has shown why. He’s playing very, very high-quality tennis. Everyone is improving, you know, so you need always to be in the present moment. That’s also one of the reasons why I went to watch him, you know, him and Joao Fonseca. I like to watch because I know that they are going to be potentially the future opponents most of the time.”
Borges has netted a lot today, especially on backhand, and that’s exactly what he does when up break point in the opening game of set three; from there, Rublev closes out the game to lead 7-5 7-6 1-0. On Chatrier, meanwhile, Swiatek leads Linette 6-4 3-1.
In the men’s dubs, Julian Cash & Lloyd Glasspool, the Wimbledon champs, have been knocked out by the Czech pair, Pavlasek and Rikl; Carreno Bustas leads Tirante 7-6 5-5; and Swiatek leads Linette 6-4 2-1 with a break.
Xiy Wang beats Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-3 7-5
The qualifier beats the conqueror of the no 2 seed. Next for her: Sierra or Cirstea.
Back with Rublev, as we suspected, Boeges just isn’t quite good enough to stick with him. He breezes through a 7-2 breaker to lead 7-5 7-6, and I can’t see how he loses from here.
Kostyuk, into the last 1 for the first time since 2021, says it means a lot. She’s had really bad results in Paris and her opponents this year were really tricky, “So I couldn’t rush, I had to create the points, not something I love to do.”
Next, she thanks the crowd for their support in al her matches so far then, asked abot the 15-minute game which secured the first set, she says she started well then began rushing, losing her advantage, but she felt like she was the better player and having lost a set last round from 5-4 0-40 that extended her time on court, she really wanted to get it done. She didn’t feel the heat so much but it’s incredibly humid today and she woke up today not feeling good, the heat taking its toll on everyone, but she knows from Sunday the weather changes.
Asked about her form on clay, she says she’s gone back to “Little Me”. She used to play well on clay, then she decided she had to to grow up and do things differently, but now she’s rediscovering the joy of creating the points, changing tempo and running around a lot, something she loves to do that isn’t difficult for her.
What a great, enlightening and refreshing interview that was. I think this blog has a new favourite to add to Maddison Keys.
Lovely behaviour from Rublev, who makes 40-0 then secures his breaker with a leaping, wrong-footing backhand smash, sending it down the line from on the line, rather than cross as anticipated. Can Borges find the quality to reach seven points first?
Next on Mathieu: Alex Michelsen v Rafael Jodar (27).
Talking of whom, though Linette played some really good stuff in set one, Swiatek has just served it out to lead 6-4. On Lenglen, an impressive hold for Borges means Rublev must now hold for a second-set breaker at 7-5 5-6.
Marta Kostyuk (15) beats Viktorija Golubic 6-4 6-3
An impressive win, sealed with a glorious flat backhand down the line, over a tricky opponent. Kostyuk, though, was too good, and should she meet Swiatek not Linette next, don’t be surprised if she wins.
I’ve enjoyed Kostyuk’s demeanour so far this week – she has a big game, which necessarily means errors, but hasn’t got down on herself when things haven’t gone to plan and, as I type, she reaches 40-15 and two match points.
Golubic holds, forcing Kostyuk to serve for the match at 6-4 5-3; Swiatek breaks Linette and is now serving for the first set at 5-4.
Talking of whom, at 40-30, Kostyuk chucks in an underarm serve, secures the hold, and at 5-2 she’s a game away. When Michael Chang tried it, too exhausted to do anything else, I don’t think he anticipated its eventual emergence as a tactic.
Even now, it’s remarkable that he won the title. At the time, I wasn’t happy – Stefan Edberg, who he beat in the final, was my favourite because, I can now see, his calm and composure was the opposite of 10-year-old me. But looking back, how great that he got it done.
Down break point again, Rublev’s forehand gets him out of trouble, then a vicious top-spinner seizes advantage and an inside-out backhand secures the hold. As with Kostyuk, it’s clear the match is on his racket: he can hit a level of which his opponent cannot dream, and if he’s anywhere close to it, it doesn’t matter what happens on the other side of the net.
Out on 14, Carreno Busta has taken the first set against Tirante and now leads 3-0 in set two; Wang leads Starodubtseva 6-3 but trails 2-4 in the second; Kostyuk leads Golubic 6-4 4-1, looking good; and Linette has just broken Swiatek back for 3-3 in the first.
I very much enjoyed this:
It’s so interesting to hear Murray talk about practise – I remember Kevin Pietersen saying the same to me, first about cricket but also about golf. The mental capacity to enjoy doing the same things, over and over again, and to work out what to do to get better, is just as much a talent as being good at them.
In winning that long game to take the first set, Kostyuk might just’ve broken the back of this match; she now leads 2-0 in the second, and I’m already buzzing at the thought of a fourth-round encounter with Swiatek. Back on Lenglen, Rublev is back in business, breaking Borges to lead 7-5 2-3, and it feels like he’ll do whatever is asked of him to win this match; I don’t think Borges, crafty though he is, can hit consistently enough to beat him.
Now then. Swiatek is brilliant at coaxing herself through the rounds, but she’ll not be happy to be broken immediately, Linette leading 2-0 … er, make that 2-1, the advantage immediately confiscated. Meantime, Rublev has also been broken, the serving that settled set one forsaking him in two, and that, really is the difference; he hammers his racket into the clay, which is better than doing so into himself, and he leads 7-5 1-3.
Borges, who’ll feel unlucky to have lost the first set, breaks Rublev immediately for 5-7 2-0, while Linette holds in game one of her clash with Swiatek.
Better work at the net from Kostyuk restores deuce as the game ticks towards 13 minutes, then she nails a return to raise her fourth set point … only to overhit backhand. If she loses this, I’d not be surprised to see her broken next up because the emotional dump of disappointment might well be distracting. But a backhand winner down the line gives her yet another opportunity to forge in front and this time, Golubic swats wide. Kostyuk, who won both Rouen and Madrid, so hasn’t lost for 13 matches, leads 6-4.
Golubic nets a mid-court forehand when up advantage while, elsewhere, Tirente leads Carreno Busta 6-5 – I’m turning that match off now to get on Swiatek v Linette – and Wang is up on Starodubtseva 6-3 1-0, with a break.
On Mathieu, Kostyuk leads Golubic 5-4 and, at deuce, a terrific return raises a second set point. And she’s well in the rally, until Golubic finds a lovely angle to attack the sideline, cleaning up with an overhead … but when she makes advantage, Kostyuk opens shoulders to annihilate a inside-out forehand cross-court, indulging herself by saluting the crowd … only to make a mess of her next volley, this time opting not to ask what anyone else thinks. She does, though, make advantage again, the power differential clear to see … only to drag a backhand wide when nicely placed; back to deuce we go while, on Lenglen, Rublev returns after disappearing between sets.
Borges dominates the first rally of the game only to tamely waft a volley long. He does, though, make 15-30 … but a really good, flat, squash-shotted forehand from Rublev restores parity and another netted backhand offers him set point, neither player able to sustain their best play. So we wind up at deuce, then an ace and a service winner, fired out wide from the advantage court – the hardest to hit – snatch the set, the emphatic nature of its climax out of keeping with what went before. But Rublev leads 7-5, and Borges will have to play seriously well if he maintains the same standard on first delivery.
A forehand return, coaxed down the line, gives Rublev 0-15 and a backhand of similar quality means that at 0-30, he’s in business. And though Borges levels, a netted backhand means he must face a break point … and another netted backhand donates the breakthrough. At 6-5, Rublev will shortly serve for a first set in which he’s been second-best.
Rublev raises two break points but Borges saves them well, allowing his impetuous opponent to overhit; he leads 5-4 in the first. Similarly, Golubic also burns a break point by going long, but already it’s clear that if Kostyuk plays well, she wins whatever her opponent does; the question is whether she can hit consistently enough, because she’s by far the more powerful and talented player. She holds for 4-3, while Rublev is struggling, Borges outmanoeuvring him around the court, but his serve gets him out of trouble at 0-30, to level at 5-5.
On Lenglen, Borges and Rublev are level at 4-4; Golubic has just been broken back to love by Kostyuk for 3-3, this the first time she’s lost this many games in a set at this tournament; Tirante, the fastest server in the world, leads Carreno Busta 3-2 on serve; and Starodubtseva, conqueror of Rybakina, leads Wang 3-2 with a break.
Preamble
Salut à tous et bienvenue à Roland-Garros 2026 – sixième jour!
Round three, not something that gets us going in theory, but in practice? Oh là là! For round three is when our seeds – or those who’ve vanquished seeds – meet, and we’ve got a frankly wild selection of those contests awaiting us today. Can we beat yesterday’s wildness? Perhaps not, but we’re going to try.
We open with Marta Kostyuk, a talent in the process of realisation but one that, in the past, might’ve been stymied by the wiles of a veteran such as Viktorija Golubic. Her run to the final in Madrid, though, suggests she’s beyond that now … but is she?
Also in action early is Andrey Rublev, whose second-round ruckus with Ugo Cabello was one of the matches of the week so far. He should have enough to get by Nuno Borges, but whether he’s enough to get by himself always remains to be seen.
On Chatrier, meanwhile, we’ve a Polish derby as Iga Swiatek, our four-time champion, faces Magda Linette, and from there, it’s madness all the way. Alex Michelsen’s match with Rafael Jodar offers us a taste of the future, while the fantastic Karolína Muchová, one of the best players yet to win a slam, takes her brand of power and creativity to Jill Teichmann, and Mirra Andreeva resumes her quest for a major with a tricky tussle against Marie Bouzkova.
Were that all, it’d be enough – but it’s not even close. Following on later, we’ve Alex de Minaur v Jakub Mensik, Karen Khachanov v Jesper de Jong, Elina Svitolina v Tamara Korpatsch, Casper Ruud v Tommy Paul, and the undoubted match of the day: João Fonseca, a superstar in the making, versus Novak Djokovic, whose evil genius has somehow removed the two players standing between him and an impossible, possible, 25th grand slam title.
Chauette! On y va!