Key events
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!