Petit Choux: Dog Day Afternoon

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Roland Garros 2026: Order of Play | Draws | Live Scores

• Previously on The Bagel: All hell broke loose.
• After another day of underdogs shining, the Round of 16 is set at this Roland Chaos, a.k.a., Random Garros:

Women:

[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs. [16] Naomi Osaka
[19] Madison Keys vs. [25] Diana Shnaider
[28] Anastasia Potapova vs. [22] Anna Kalinskaya
[Q] Maja Chwalinska vs. Diane Parry

[7] Elina Svitolina vs. [11] Belinda Bencic
[15] Marta Kosytuk vs. [3] Iga Swiatek
[8] Mirra Andreeva vs. Jil Teichmann
[18] Sorana Cirstea vs. [Q] Wang Xiyu

Men:

Juan Manuel Cerundolo vs. Matteo Berretini
[19] Frances Tiafoe vs. Matteo Arnaldi
[4] Felix Auger Aliassime vs. Alejandro Tabilo
[10] Flavio Cobolli vs. Zachary Svajda

[26] Mensik vs. [11] Rublev
[15] Ruud vs. [28] Fonseca
[27] Jodar vs. Carreno Busta
De Jong vs. [2] Zverev

• That Round of 16 pretty much sums up what went down in Week 1. This gentlemen captures the vibe perfectly (h/t Discord Roberto):

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• So let’s quickly sum up the surprise happenings on France’s Super Saturday, where Les Bleus had a lot going on: Roland Garros, PSG’s Champions League Final, and Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs in a Game 7. (Arab News)

Frances Tiafoe told the Tennis Channel that he’s been channelling his inner Wemby when it comes to his mentality and approach during this French Open. While everyone came into the tournament naming Jannik Sinner as the heavy favourite in Paris, Tiafoe made sure he wasn’t going to put the Italian on a pedestal on the eve of a Slam.

“Obviously he's doing monumental things, but I think we've got to believe that you can do the ultimate task and beat him,” Tiafoe told us during Media Day in Paris.

“I mean, everyone's capable, especially the top guys. Guys are capable, but I think the biggest thing is trying to get him out of his high horse mentally

“I think we're all kind of putting him on a different stratosphere, which he is, but you kind of create a little bit of an illusion to get you to get over the line.”

• Between the dramatic upsets at Roland Garros and PSG’s win over Arsenal, the good news is I think there are no more fireworks in all of Europe.

• Coco Gauff’s title defense ended at the hands of Anastasia Potapova, which was always going to be a tough match given Potapova’s recent form. The irony is that despite Potapova having leads in the first and second sets, this could have been a straight-set win for Coco. And as the match ticked down in the third, it was feeling like it would be another trademark three-set win for her, too. But after falling short 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4, Coco said it best:

Q.  Tough luck today. What was the most frustrating out there today that maybe you couldn't play the game you wanted or have the sensations you were used to, maybe playing a bit defensive? How do you feel that?

COCO GAUFF: I think, again, just not capitalizing on certain shots. I mean, at 3-All, I had a couple of breakpoints and missed I think two backhands or three backhands, which just can't happen in that scenario.

I think, I don't know, I feel like I'm practicing well, and when the moments get there, I'm not quite translating that. I do it at times, and then I also don't do it. I think it's just a learning experience, and hopefully when I'm in this position again, I can make better decisions.

Q.  You have had a lot of success in your career being able to win matches where you're not always playing your best. It's one of your strengths. Did you feel like you could still get over the line today even if things weren't firing for you? Ultimately, what was not able to get you to escape this one?

COCO GAUFF: I think just I feel like I lost the same way in Rome as I did here, which is not good, I think. I don't know. You never want to lose the same way back-to-back times, and I did, and I feel like also in Madrid, it was a similar thing, losing the same way.

It's one thing to lose, but I think today I didn't – I mean, I competed, like, I fought my hardest, but I don't think I played the way I wanted to in the crucial moments.

• Before this week, Poland’s Maja Chwalinska was best known for being one of Iga Swiatek’s best friends. But the 24-year-0ld has charted her own path this year in Paris, where she cruised through qualifying and then proceeded to knock out Zheng Qinwen and Elise Mertens before knocking out Maria Sakkari today 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. She’s into her first Grand Slam Round of 16 and will improve on her Top 100 debut to move into the Top 80. No more Grand Slam qualifying for you, Maja!

• 23-year-old Zachary Svajda is as stunned as you are to see himself in the Round of 16 of a Slam, let alone on the clay at Roland Garros. He fought off 25th seed Francisco Cerundolo to win 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3. He seems like a good egg. (AP)

" I'm dreaming right now, in a dream. It's crazy. Today was so special, too, because it's also my dad's birthday. I know he's watching from above. It just makes it so special.”

• Diane Parry, every talented but never the most confident of closers, went toe-to-toe with 6th seed Amanda Anisimova and did not blink. She gave the partisan fans a show to knock out the former semifinalist, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) to make her first Round of 16 at a Grand Slam.

Q.  You mentioned earlier how you felt your game was disturbing Amanda in some way. What specifically do you think was working really well?

DIANE PARRY: I think the slice. Even if it wasn't the best every time in the match, I think that I had some free points with this shot, and then I tried to, mostly, to take with my forehand when I had the opportunity, even if she was playing fast. So it wasn't easy every time to be able to take my forehand. Yeah, just be ready on the first shot after the serve, and when I had the chance, to go and take the advantage in the point.

• As for Amanda, she said she hasn’t been well in France:

I thought from the beginning it was really tough for me, because it was really hot, and I'm not feeling my best physically. Didn't train yesterday, so I was dealing with something. Yeah, for me it was really hard out there. I tried to do my best until the last moment, but I feel like it just was getting worse and worse for me through the match. A lot of mistakes.

It was just really disappointing for me, but I get it. At the same time, she was playing well, she stayed calm, and she did all the right things. All can I really do is accept that that's the way it was.

Then also in the end I got, like, a bunch of blisters on my hand, so it was really hard for me to hold the racquet and hit the ball. So just really unfortunate day, yeah.

• Those were the big upsets of the day, but even the front-runners were made to battle until the end. Naomi Osaka and Iva Jovic played the best women’s match of the day, a near three-hour display of top-quality wire-to-wire tennis, which saw the four-time Grand Slam champion make her first Roland Garros Round of 16. She won with another clutch performance, winning 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-4 to set up a much-anticipated showdown with No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.
• My big takeaway from Osaka’s three wins this week has been her almost zen-like demeanor during junctures of the match where I’ve seen her buckle. I wasn’t expecting her answer on it:

Q.  It's notable in the matches that you have won here in particular, they haven't necessarily been runaway sets all the time. They have been really tight at moments. Those have been moments that they can cut one way or the other for you, but you have been standing up pretty well to them. How do you practice that? How do you improve that ability to kind of play some of your best tennis right now on this surface during the crunch moments?

NAOMI OSAKA: I just keep thinking of a stat Tomasz told me. I don't know if it's accurate, but it's been helping me out a lot. He said, like, I don't want to tell you guys the numbers, because I'm going to be totally wrong. He basically said Nadal has won 98% of his matches here, and he's only won, like, 50% of the points.

I just thought to myself, I don't have to win every single point, but I just have to try every single point, and hopefully it goes in my favor. Yeah. That's basically it.

• With Coco, Amanda, and Iva’s third-round exits, Madison Keys is now the last remaining American woman in the draw. She went the distance to hold off Victoria Mboko, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Keys was scheduled third on Simonne-Mathieu and had to wait around for over seven hours until she got on court, mainly thanks to Matteo Berretini’s 5 hour and 13 minute win over Francisco Comesana – which was CRAZY – 7-6(3), 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(13). He saved two match points. (ATP)

• Keys came into the interview just before midnight, and proceeded to give great – and hilarious insight – into what it's like to watch a draw fall apart around you, and offer her theory as to why these boys are playing all these crazy matches:

Q.  Obviously we're writing about the men's side too, most of us. So your sort of analyst hat on, what are you seeing in this men's draw as they react to this big event of Sinner going out and Alcaraz not being here to start with? There's been lots of women's draws that you've been in or you've gone out of that have opened up in different ways. What sort of experience do you feel like you have when a draw seems to get in this mode? Is this a familiar feeling to you? What are the symptoms of look-ahead-itis?

MADISON KEYS: I think that it's definitely – you can think back to some women's draws that kind of, I don't want to say fell part, because if you are winning these matches, you deserve to be in that position, but the unexpected is happening.

There's definitely been instances where I've gotten way too concerned about this person lost, so now my quarter is open. Then it's, like, well, I have to get to the quarter.

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.

I think it will be interesting. It will really just kind of be who can handle the moment, who can figure out how to play their best tennis with way more mounting pressure. I think it's probably maybe a little bit different on the men's side, just because we've had so many long eras of these four people are the only people that we think are going to win.

So to now have literally a whole draw of people that could win makes the sport interesting, at least.

Q.  It's a little bit similar, but in general, it feels to be a chaotic tournament, whether results-wise, crazy heat, Paris Saint-Germain winning. There's a lot. I'm just wondering, do you feel it as a player, in the air even? Is the energy chaotic? Do you try to get out of here as quickly as possible? How are you managing that part?

MADISON KEYS: I think that, obviously, the fireworks mid-match was a bit chaotic. It's a first.

I think there's just always kind of a feeling that shifts at tournaments. I feel like even last year at Wimbledon, that kind of first round where a bunch of seeds were losing, and everyone was just getting a little bit more nervous.

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 and not on the match today. So we've seen lots of men's tennis today.

I feel like their anxiety is slowly seeping into everyone's lives, so hopefully they can kind of make it through that and feel a little bit better and stop worrying about the final Sunday and worrying about, you know, today, tomorrow.

But I do think that it's always kind of exciting when crazy things happen. As a tennis fan, it's been fun to watch.

• Frances Tiafoe rose from the dead to beat Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(1), 6-1, 6-2 in four hours. He’ll join Svajda as the only two American men in the Round of 16. The match finished after midnight and you know that Roland Garros gets a little wacky after midnight:

• Yo imagine following up the biggest win of your career by going SIX HOURS. Chapeau Juan Manuel Cerundolo, a.k.a. the Cerundolo in the Round of 16.

• Simon Briggs reports that Serena Williams has asked for a doubles wild card at Queen’s, the London grass-court event that begins the week after Roland Garros. Reminder: nothing has been confirmed from her team, but this has been the whisper for the last month or so. (Telegraph via Yahoo)

Now, having completed her mandatory six-month period in that pool, the American is understood to have asked for a wild card into the Lawn Tennis Association’s flagship event in London.

For the moment, it is believed that Williams has only applied to enter the doubles draw.

• BBC reports there was noticeably heightened security around the Olynykova-Shnaider match.

Tearful Oliynykova demands Shnaider face sanctions for ‘supporting war’

Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova has called for Diana Shnaider to face sanctions after the Russian played in a Gazprom-funded exhibition in St Petersburg

The GuardianTumaini Carayol

• Great breakdown from Ava Wallace on an illustrative game in the Fonseca-Djokovic match. (The Athletic)
• I forgot to post this yesterday but fork found in kitchen, forking:

• No idea the exact why, but I would guess Cami Osorio wasn’t too pleased with Anna Kalinskaya taking too much time when she was losing the second set and looking like the walking dead, only to play the way she did in the third set to win 6-3, 0-6, 6-2:

Advertising blocks moved after players air concerns

The position of on-court advertising blocks were moved at the French Open on Saturday, but not removed - as some players had demanded for safety reasons.

Yahoo SportsJonathan Jurejko - BBC Sport tennis news reporter at Roland Garros

• Bop of the Day: Thank you Tony on Bluesky for reminding me about this perfect sketch: