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Welcome to the French Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On Day 7, the women’s draw got in on the chaos, there were just too many sets and the tournament’s breakout star had a good soccer result.
Has the women’s draw opened up now?
Speaking in a news conference Saturday after knocking out No. 9 seed Victoria Mboko, 2025 Australian Open Madison Keys had some words for the players left in the wide-open men’s draw.
“I think we’ve seen in the men’s scores today that they’re all really worried about who is going to be in the finals. So we’ve seen lots of men’s tennis today,” she said.
“All jokes aside, I do think we’re kind of seeing the men deal with it kind of for the first time in a really long time where it feels completely wide open. Like I said, they should really get their heads around it.”
Keys isn’t wrong — but Saturday at Roland Garros, the women’s draw finally opened up a little bit, too. Defending champion Coco Gauff fell to Austria’s Anastasia Potapova, No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova went out to Diane Parry of France and Keys herself took down Mboko. All of a sudden, seven top-10 seeds became four — and Iga Świątek was left as the only player in the draw to have lifted a French Open title.
The composition of the draw may leaven just how open it is. In world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka’s half, she and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka are the only top-20 seeds remaining, and they meet in the fourth round. Osaka won a tight, tense, intriguing three-set match against No. 17 seed Iva Jović, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-4, before Sabalenka dispatched Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5.
In the bottom half, Świątek meets in-form No. 15 seed Marta Kostyuk, while Elina Svitolina (7) and Belinda Bencic (11) clash. Mirra Andreeva (8) faces the unseeded Jil Teichmann. There won’t be quite so much worry as the men’s draw about who is going to be in the finals, but there will be bucketloads of quality women’s tennis.
— James Hansen
How many sets is too many sets?
The player most associated with this French Open years from now may well be João Fonseca.
Because the 19-year-old Brazilian was already such a promising young figure in men’s tennis, and because Novak Djokovic is an all-time great, Fonseca’s five-set win Friday could take on heavy meaning in the years to come, à la Roger Federer’s upset of Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001.
If that’s the case, what to make of Juan Manuel Cerúndolo? The world No. 56 from Argentina arguably deserves a spot in the history books (or at least deserves to be the answer to a trivia question) for backing up his upset of world No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Thursday with a marathon win of his own..
Cerundolo beat Martin Landaluce 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 7-6(8) Saturday in a whopping five hours and 58 minutes all the way over on Court 7, to log the third-longest match at Roland Garros since 1996.
The other two longest matches were all played before Roland Garros adopted the fifth-set tiebreak.
Corentin Moutet and Lorenzo Giustino’s six-hour-and-five-minute match in 2020 occupies the second spot, and Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement’s six-hour-and-33-minute epic in the 2004 French Open holds the record.
Cerúndolo may not have played the most taxing tennis match of his life against a heat-weakened Sinner Thursday, but those types of matches often leave players with an emotional hangover.
“Hahahaha I can’t take it anymore, 6 hours what a madness,“ he wrote on social media. “Super happy, thanks to everyone for the support. Time to sleep to see if we make it to the round of 16 on one leg.”
At least Cerúndolo won’t be the only one hurting come the fourth round — his was one of five endurance matches Saturday. There were nine out of 16 across the third round — the most at a Grand Slam in the Open Era.
Cerúndolo’s next opponent, Matteo Berrettini of Italy, took 5 hours and 13 minutes to win his meeting with another Argentine, Francisco Comesaña. Berrettini triumphed 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(13), with the Italian winning a 28-point deciding tiebreak.
Later, Berrettini’s compatriot Matteo Arnaldi defeated Belgium’s Raphaël Collingnon, who upset Ben Shelton in the previous round, 6-4, 6-7(5), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4). That took a modest four hours and 58 minutes, before Frances Tiafoe got on the five-set train, coming from two down to beat Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-2.
Cerúndolo’s brother, Francisco, wasn’t so lucky. The No. 25 seed went down to Zachary Svajda of the U.S. in five sets, depriving him of a serious opportunity in this half of the draw.
Something must’ve been in the water at Roland Garros. Let’s hope it was electrolytes.
Jajajaja no puedo mas 6 horas que locura. Super feliz, agradecer a todos por el apoyo. Toca dormir a ver si llegamos en una pierna octavos😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/3eblX7s4bQ
— Juan Manuel Cerúndolo (@jmcerundolo) May 30, 2026
— Ava Wallace
How did Moïse Kouame win again in defeat?
Moïse Kouame leapt and thrashed at the air.
At 6-5 down in the fourth set he toyed, cat-and-mouse style, with Chile’s Alejandro Talibo. It was a pattern of play befitting of an experienced pro on tour, not a 17-year-old in his first Grand Slam main draw.
Given Kouame was coming off the back of a five-set match lasting just under five hours, while Tabilo was fresh having received a walkover in the second round, there was no reason for Kouame to push the projected world No. 31 so far.
And yet he did.
Kouame came flying out of the blocks to take the first set, but after two hours and 30 minutes, he found himself down 2-1 in sets and 4-2 in games. Tabilo was rolling and during tight games which went to deuce, Kouame showed a glimpse of frustration, remonstrating against himself as he committed more errors.
But as he has shown in this tournament, the Parisian’s resilience should not be questioned. “I always knew I had a good mentality and could overturn matches because I did it in my youth,” he said in his news conference.
At the same time that PSG was launching a comeback of its own, converting a penalty to level 1-1 in the Champions League final in Budapest, Kouame, a huge childhood PSG fan, came back from 2-4 to lead 5-4 in the fourth set.
The crowd bowed in deference to the teenager, chanting “Mo-ïse, Mo-ïse”. Often the umpire had to remind the crowd with a curt “s’il vous plaît’ as they cheered every one of Tabilo’s missed first serves. As much as it was a hostile atmosphere, Kouame’s ability to channel that emotion at such a young age is remarkable.
The fans rallied him with the start of France’s national anthem, screaming “Aux armes!” (A call to arms). Kouame found his arsenal in high pressure moments, saving three match points in the fourth set tie-break, but Tabilo ultimately found a way to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(11-9) win.
It was one step too far, but that should take nothing away from the Parisian’s commendable run. When the world rankings update Monday, he will have ascended over 100 places.
Kouame, who came into the press room sporting the back-to-back Champions League winners’ home shirt having watched his team beat Arsenal on penalties, smiled despite his defeat. “It can only fill me with joy,” he said about PSG’s European triumph.
In the future, he may taste such success.
— Charlotte Harpur
Other notable results on Day 7:
Flavio Cobolli (10) delivered a statement win in his very open half of the draw, beating Learner Tien (18) of the U.S. 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya (22) recovered from a medical timeout for heat illness and a 6-0 set to beat Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-3, 0-6, 6-2. Osorio wasn’t too impressed at the handshake.
Félix Auger-Aliassime (4) of Canada recovered from losing the opening set to American Brandon Nakashima (31) to win 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(4), 7-6(1).
Diana Shnaider (25) defeated Oleksandra Oliynykova in a charged matchup 7-5, 6-1. Ahead of the match, Ukraine’s Oliynykova had directly criticized Shnaider, who is Russian, for taking part in a state-sponsored tennis exhibition.
Shot of the day
Sorry to Amanda Anisimova, but when a serve goes this long, it must be immortalized:
Drop Shots
🇫🇷 How Diane Parry stunned Amanda Anisimova to send Court Philippe-Chatrier wild.
🪧 How Ukraine’s fiercest defender in sports made a statement at the French Open.
🇧🇷 ICYMI: João Fonseca pulled off the biggest win of his career against Novak Djokovic last night.
🧱 The upset meant Novak Djokovic’s clearest path yet to a 25th Grand Slam title ran out of red clay.
🪶 And in the most crucial game of the match, Fonseca produced a deftness for which he is not known just when he needed it.
Up next: Fourth round
🎾 Women’s singles: Marta Kostyuk (15) vs. Iga Świątek (3)
5 a.m. ET on TNT, HBO Max
Kostyuk is on a 15-match win-streak on clay, while Świątek is still fully finding her feet on the courts she has made her own the past several years. Whether or not this match is played under a roof due to rain will have an impact, as while both players enjoy the hot conditions — Ukraine’s Kostyuk for ball speed, Świątek for high bounce — an outdoor, grey clay encounter will be weighted heavily in the Polish four-time champion’s favor.
🎾 Men’s singles: Rafael Jódar (27) vs. Pablo Carreño Busta
7 a.m. ET on TNT, HBO Max
Jódar has passed tennis test after tennis test this year, and now he arrives at one of the toughest: Being favorite for a hugely consequential match against an opponent with experience of getting over the line. Carreño Busta, 34, is part of some Grand Slam second-week lore: the 2020 U.S. Open, when Novak Djokovic lost early to leave the rest of the field with a sudden and unexpected opportunity.
🎾 Women’s singles: Elina Svitolina (7) vs. Belinda Bencic (11)
7 a.m. ET on TNT, HBO Max
On paper, Svitolina’s superior clay-court record, including her Italian Open title ahead of this tournament, makes her a strong favorite, especially as the slower conditions will tamp down Bencic’s flat power. Those conditions will also give Bencic opportunities to tee off on Svitolina’s serve, and this match is quite likely to feature a lot of breaks. The Ukrainian leads the head-to-head 4-2, with four consecutive wins.
🎾 Men’s singles: Casper Ruud (15) vs. João Fonseca (28)
2:15 p.m. ET on TNT
A heavyweight contest for the night session. Ruud has the French Open experience and many more big matches in his legs and brain; Fonseca has the adrenalin of the biggest win of his career and overwhelming weight of shot. In this match, the slow conditions will give both men time to set up and blast on their forehands, so the deftness that Fonseca showed in the late stages of his win over Djokovic — and his superiority in backhand-to-backhand exhanges — could be key.
French Open women’s draw 2026
French Open men’s draw 2026
Tell us what you noticed on the seventh day…
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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