Compatriot Jannik Sinner may be gone, but Italians Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini are hoping to pick up the slack at the French Open on Saturday. They are set for respective third-round showdowns against Learner Tien and Francisco Comesana.
(10) Flavio Cobolli vs. (18) Learner Tien
Cobolli vs. Tien is probably not a third-round match you expected to see on Court Philipp-Chatrier, but that will be the case when the Saturday schedule of play gets underway at the French Open. With so many big-name players — Jannik Sinner included — having vacated the top half of the draw, Cobolli and Tien are left to take center stage.
It should be a worthy match, too, even if they aren’t two of the biggest stars in the sport. A resurgent Cobolli has emerged from an early-season slump with a runner-up finish in Munich, a quarterfinal performance in Madrid, and now a pair of wins at Roland Garros over Andrea Pellegrino and Yibing Wu — both in straight sets. A red-hot Tien won the Geneva title last weekend and has maintained momentum with solid clay-court victories over Cristian Garin and Facundo Diaz Acosta. Although Cobolli is strong on this surface, he is by no means a clay-court specialist. For the time being, Tien is the craftier and more consistent all-around player of the two. That he has learned so quickly to play well on clay should be able to offset Cobolli’s minor surface advantage.
Pick: Tien in 4
Matteo Berrettini vs. Francisco Comesana
Berrettini and Comesana will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Saturday. Suddenly, Berrettini is one of the most likely finalists to emerge from the wide-open top half of the French Open draw. One, the 30-year-old Italian is a former Grand Slam runner-up (2021 Wimbledon). Two, he is finally healthy and showing signs of the player who was once No. 6 in the world (currently 105th). Berrettini double-bagled Daniil Medvedev in Monte-Carlo and has advanced so far in Paris with victories over Marton Fucsovics and Arthur Rinderknech — dropping only one set in the process.
Comesana just pulled off an upset over an Italian with big-run potential at Roland Garros, as the 102nd-ranked Argentine took down Luciano Darderi in five sets on Thursday. He will be attempting the same feat two days later, but it won’t be easy on the heels of such a tough match and with a suddenly in-form opponent on the other side of the net. Berrettini will probably have too much firepower for a player who was 4-12 on the main tour in 2026 prior to this fortnight.
Pick: Berrettini in 4