Key events
The Gauff serve getting shaky, with break points at 1-2 down. And a double hands Bouzkova a clear second set lead.
Trouble for Coco? She won the first set 6-1 but has struggled in the second set, going 2-0 down. She lands a break point, and breaks back just when the set threatened to get away.
Gauff is now 4-1 up, and it’s a quiet crowd watching a match in which her opponent isn’t giving the crowd much to work with.
Madison Keys and Sofia Kenin are playing, and it’s 3-3. The Bublik 7-5 6-1 6-2 Rocha result means the plucky Brit battle of Fearney and Norrie is imminent.
Gauff, like the other favourites today, takes an early lead, and breaks the Czech for 2-0. She’s no longer wearing the leather jacket. It’s far too hot for that.
Gauff is taking on Marie Bouzková, the Czech, and in the first game, there’s a double fault but her power sees her to a opening service hold.
Right, to conclude the afternoon on Philippe Chatrier, it’s Coco Gauff, a previous finalist here, who arrived on court in a natty black leather jacket.
Zverev beats Cobolli 6-2 7-6 6-1
So, just Sasha Zverev really out there at the moment, and he’s smashing up Cobolli in the third set. He has two match points, but they are saved. So back to deuce. And the Italian seems inspired by his impending fate. Still, Zverev gets his chance to serve out, and is denied by a scrabbling Cobolli. Eventually, the Italian folds. Big, useful win for Zverev.
Jack Draper speaks afterwards. “Joao’s an incredible young player. He’s got a very bright future. I played good, the conditions were difficult. Hopefully more to come. The faster conditions suit me, I shall be ready for whatever. It’s not like anyone’s against me. It’s not bad at all to play in a rowdy atmosphere.
Draper beats Fonseca 6-2 6-4 6-2
Draper makes short work of the final game. Fonseca cannot return his bullet of a serve. That’s the story of the game.
Fonseca serves well, and that means Draper must serve this one out to land his three-sets win.
The bad news for Draper is that Sinner is in his quarter of the draw. The good news is that he’s 5-1 up, and facing an opponent whose resilience looks done for the day.
Fonseca is getting treatment from the trainer and is wincing in pain. He, in what looks like Fat Willy’s Surf Shack gear, takes back to the court. Draper has been wiping himself down with ice-bags.
Zverev wins the second set tie-breaker from Flavio Cobolli and now leads 2-0 on sets.
A double break for Draper now – 3-0 in the third. This isn’t Sinner level but it’s been hugely impressive
Draper takes immediate control of the third set by breaking Fonseca, and he holds serve, too. He’s 2-0 up and the next round is in sight. So much to do for Fonseca.
Draper, at 5-4, can serve for the set, and is 30-15 up. Fonseca, with the Parisian crowd on his side, roar him getting to 30-30 with a big forehand. Then Draper feels the pressure, and faces a break point after his drop shot comes back at him. Fonseca goes long with a forehand when he had command of the rally. Then comes an untimely double fault. But Draper battles back, and pulls off a mighty, mighty hold, and wins the second set 6-4.
Draper has a break, the first of the second set. That’s fine work from him, just as Fonseca was looking more settled. The Englishman’s power is doing the talking.
Lois Boisson, a French hope, beat compatriot Elsa Jacquemot, in three sets in the women’s singles.
To update, from the men’s Griekspoor prevailed in the fifth set over Eddie Quinn, edging the fifth set 6-4.
Fonseca looks in better touch in the second set. He holds serve to go 2-1. Elsewhere, Zverev took the first set from Cobolli, the second set also going with serve, 2-2. Draper is serving like a demon and it’s 2-2 as he bullies a forehand home.
Draper is in sparkling form, and rushes to 5-2, and serves for the set in under 30 minutes. He takes the set 6-2. Almost as smooth as Sinner. But not quite.
First blood to Jack Draper. He holds serve then bags the first break of the match at the second time of asking.
Fonseca holds his first service game with little fuss. He’s very much a rising star in the game – the Brazilian is the youngest player in the ATP top 100 at No 65.
Draper v Fonseca is under way on Suzanne Lenglen! The pair have met only once before, with Draper running out a 6-4, 6-0 winner on the hard courts of Indian Wells.
Zverev has started on the front foot: he’s a break up already. Tallon Griekspoor, who saw off Ethan Quinn earlier today, awaits the winner of that one in round four, with – if we dare look that far ahead – Novak Djokovic potentially waiting in the quarters.
That sets the stage for Jack Draper taking on Joao Fonseca, the Brazilian teenager. On Philippe-Chatrier, Sasha Zverev, the nearly man, is playing Flavio Cobolli, the Italian. They’re just underway.
Sinner will play Rublev next. Lehecka leaves to huge applause. “I played very well,” says the winner, Sinner, who dedicates the win to his coach, Simone. He says he is “happy on court, which is very important.”
His prep: “I am trying to sleep in, play focused for one hour. There are not many improvements but against Andrej it’s going to be very different.”
Sinner beats Lehecka 6-0 6-1 6-2
That’s about as comprehensive a win as you are ever likely to see. Lehecka didn’t even play badly. He was just smashed by a player performing from another planet. Lehecka is not just some rube, he’s No 34 in the world.
Make that a triple break; 5-2 up and now serving for the match.
Sinner has a double break, and is 4-2 up and still cruising through his Saturday lunchtime assignment.
Pegula makes it through, winning the final set a little easier than the rest of the match, beating Markéta Vondroušová 6-3 4-6 6-2
No third set bagel/beigel for Lahecka, as Sinner is pegged back to 2-1, though he has already collected a break of serve by then.
Jessica Pegula and Markéta Vondroušová has gone to three set, the American is a break up in the third, serving to go 4-2 up.
Sinner takes the second set, 6-1. Two sets up in under an hour. Griekspoor and Quinn has gone to five, the Dutchman winning the fourth set 6-1.
Wild celebrations and a big smile as Lahecka wins a game. It’s 5-1 in the second set. He’s not been *that* bad. A fist of joy from the Czech. Oh, glory glory.
So yeah, it’s 5-0 in the second set, and it’s getting traumatic for Lehecka, who probably needs a sports psychologist on call after this one. That said, and with nothing to lose, he plays a pearler of a drop shot. That lands him game point.
Make that 9-0. Too easy for Sinner.
Just when Lehecka thinks he might actually win a game, he is taken to deuce, makes a mess of his first serve to save his bacon, and ends up going 2-0 down in the second. So it’s 8-0 on aggregate.
Sinner served to go 1-0 up, so that’s 7-0. Ouch.
Bit more of an even contest between Griekspor and Quinn. The latter lost the first set, but takes the next two, with a tie-break. They’ve been going two hours for three sets. This Sinner game seems likely to not last anything like as long.
And there goes the bagel/beigel, Sinner taking the first set 6-0. He’s looking the absolute real deal.
Lahecka takes Sinner to 40-40, who suddenly seems rushed. There even a couple of deuces, but 5-0 soon arrives.
Make that 3-0. Sinner wants to get this one done, and perhaps get himself settled before the Champions League final later. He lands three break points for 4-0. And takes the second one.
Sinner, rangy and usually implacable, is already 2-0 up on Lehecka, who has never previously taken a set off him. This is awesome stuff, and already.
Sinner has won both previous matches with his Czech opponent, who has put in Sinner to serve first. Lehecka could be a dangerous opponent.
Big win for Australia as Paula Badosa, the 10th seed, is downed in two sets by Daria Kasatkina.
That means Sinner and Lehecka will be on soon. The world No 1 reached the semis last season, losing in five sets to Carlos Alcaraz.
First win of the day, and comprehensive: Andreeva beats Putintseva 6-3 6-1. Nice and easy for the teenager. One to watch.
The latest Roland Garros reporting from Tumaini Carayol.
The early starters: Paula Badosa and Daria Kasatkina – 1oth seed v 17th sees the Australian having won the first on Court Simonne-Mathieu. Mirra Andreeva, the teenager, is also taking part in her second round match, and the sixth seed took the first set from Yulia Putintseva. Both those matches with serve in the secodn set.
The men’s early starters, are Tallon Griekspoor and Ethan Quinn, Dutchman v American. The first set went to Griekspoor, but Quinn leads 4-1 in the second.
The news from a cloudy Paris is that it’s cloudy and there’s been spots of rain to trouble the early matches. There is a roof on the two main courts so there will be tennis all day.
Preamble
Morning, all. Roland Garros’ middle Saturday, a moving day of sorts, with plenty of big guns in action, including plucky Brits Jack Draper and Cam Norrie.
Here’s the order of play on the main courts.
Court Philippe-Chatrier (Start at 11:00)
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Jessica Pegula (USA) [3] vs Marketa Vondrousova (CZE)
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Alexander Zverev (GER) [3] vs Flavio Cobolli (ITA)
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Marie Bouzkova (CZE) vs Coco Gauff (USA) [2]
Night session, not before 19:15
Court Suzanne-Lenglen (Start at 10:00)
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Mirra Andreeva [6] vs Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) [32]
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Jannik Sinner (ITA) [1] vs Jiri Lehecka (CZE)
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Joao Fonseca (BRA) vs Jack Draper (GBR) [5]
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Madison Keys (USA) [7] vs Sofia Kenin (USA) [31]
Court Simonne-Mathieu (Start at 10:00)
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Daria Kasatkina (AUS) [17] vs Paula Badosa (ESP) [10]
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Elsa Jacquemot (FRA) vs Lois Boisson (FRA)
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Alexander Bublik (KAZ) vs Henrique Rocha (POR)
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Cameron Norrie (GBR) vs Jacob Fearnley (GBR)
