French Open 2025: Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys each rally after losing 1st set; Jannik Sinner wins easily
Day 7 at the 2025 French Open began with No. 3 women's seed Jessica Pegula encountering some early difficulty against Marketa Vondrousova, losing the first set. But she recovered to win the next two sets and advance to the tournament's fourth round.
After losing the first set 6-3, Pegula surged out to a 5-1 lead in the second set. But she couldn't get break point over Vondrousova, who battled her way back. Ultimately, however, Pegula tired Vondrousova out by getting her to move side-to-side constantly to catch up to her returns. The 2023 Wimbledon champion had little left for the third set, resulting in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory for Pegula.
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Following the match, Pegula admitted she had trouble getting to Vondrousova's drop shots initially.
"For the first hour I was just running up and back, sprints, it was like a fitness workout with her drop shots," Pegula said, via The Athletic. "She's so tricky. She does well here every year."
"I know she hasn't been playing that much because she's been injured," she added, "but to be honest, I think that was a really good win against someone who is really a clay courter. To figure it out makes me really proud."
Pegula will face a French opponent, either Elsa Jacquemot or Lois Boisson, in the next round and figures to have the crowd at Roland-Garros rooting against her as a result.
Jannik Sinner faces no trouble versus Jiri Lehecka
On the men's side, top seed Jannik Sinner cruised to the fourth round, easily defeating Jiri Lehecka in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, 6-2. Losing only three games, Sinner finished the match in one hour and 35 minutes.
He was relentless from the start, winning 11 straight games to begin the match while getting 31 winners and committing only nine unforced errors. In his post-match interview, Sinner said that starting well was "very important for confidence." Clearly, that confidence didn't waver at all against Lehecka, ranked No. 34 in the world, on Saturday.
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Up next for Sinner is Andrey Rublev, who automatically advanced with Arthur Fils having to withdraw due to a stress fracture in his lower back.
Madison Keys overcomes early stumble
Despite difficulties with her backhand returns, Madison Keys defeated Sofia Kenin to advance to the fourth round of the 2025 French Open. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
No. 7 women's seed Madison Keys struggled initially against Sofia Kenin, losing the first set 4-6. Despite having trouble with her backhand returns and coming up short against Kenin's drop shots, Keys rallied to win the next two sets and finish off the match with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Kenin had a chance to win that third set, taking a 3-0 lead. However, Keys fought back to 5-4 and broke serve when Kenin's forehand return went wide. Ultimately, Kenin's unforced errors cost her the opportunity for an upset and move into the fourth round.
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Keys will face fellow American Hailey Baptiste in the fourth round and try to advance to the French Open quarterfinals for the first time since 2019.
Jack Draper advances to fourth round for first time
No. 5 seed Jack Draper advanced past Joao Fonseca in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. He reaches the French Open fourth round for the first time in his career. Fonseca had little defense against Draper's serve, which he won continually during the match
Ahead of a possible quarterfinal meeting with Sinner, the No. 1 seed praised Draper for persevering through hip tendonitis that hobbled him earlier in the year.
"I'm good friends with him. I'm very happy to have him as a friend, but he's now there," Sinner said during his post-match press conference. "Things are a little bit different. Of course, you know, we are very good friends off the court, but, you know, we practice a little bit less together, because we might know that we can face each other in the later stages of tournaments hopefully."
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However, Draper will have to defeat either Kazakh Alexander Bublik or Henrique Rocha in the fourth round to get there.
Alexander Zverev wins in straight sets
Alexander Zverev defeated Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-1 and looks like he could be on his way to another French Open final. (Zverev finished as the runner-up last year after losing to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets.)
The No. 3 seed has only lost one set in his three matches thus far, dropping his first set to Jesper de Jong in their second-round meeting. Before falling to Zverev, Cobolli had won his previous seven matches.
Zverev reaches the fourth round at Roland-Garros for the eighth consecutive year and will face Tallon Griekspoor, against whom he has a 7-2 career record, on Monday. A potential quarterfinals matchup with Novak Djokovic could be ahead as he pursues his first Grand Slam tournament title.
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Watch: Lorenzo Musetti kicks ball at line judge but escapes with warning
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French Open recap: Lorenzo Musetti avoids default after kicking ball into linesperson
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Advertisement 'For purposes of this rule, abuse of balls is defined as intentionally or recklessly hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with disregard of the consequences.' The problem with the logic currently applied is that it gives players credit for being in control of something which they are not in control of. Smashing or kicking a ball into a crowd of people or an enclosed space is risky. Whether or not it hits someone with a glancing blow or square on is pure luck. On this occasion, chair umpire Timo Janzen let Musetti off with a warning. Tiafoe complained, but to no avail. Novak Djokovic was defaulted from the 2020 U.S. Open when he whacked a ball that inadvertently hit a line judge in the throat. 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Of course she thought that: she served three aces in the final game of her 6-1, 7-5 win. This was the day that the French Open's line-judge decision caused controversy From the start of play, it's felt inevitable that the French Open's decision to opt for line judges over electronic line calling (ELC) would come under scrutiny. Advertisement Mixed events on clay, and every other surface, use ELC, but the tournament opted against it. The France Tennis Federation (FFT) president, Gilles Moretton, said in April that this was because it trusts their industry-leading officials to do a good job, claiming last week that ELC had been shown not to be totally effective at the earlier clay events this year. The downside of no ELC was duly exposed Tuesday when at a critical moment in the quarterfinal between Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen, a bad error from the officials could have made a major difference. 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French Open: Iga Swiatek to face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. Alcaraz and Musetti win
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