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New York Times
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
French Open recap: Aryna Sabalenka's tennis evolution sees her through at Roland Garros
Follow The Athletic's French Open coverage Welcome to the French Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament. On day eight, a world No. 1 showed why she has evolved her game, a tale of three match points and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka went into Sunday's meeting with Amanda Anisimova with a 2-5 head-to-head record, and having lost three of their four meetings on clay. In theory, that put the American No. 16 seed at a pretty big advantage. But four of those five Anisimova wins came before Sabalenka had become a Grand Slam champion — and more importantly, the multi-faceted player she is now. Advertisement Sabalenka offered a reminder of that evolution throughout a comfortable 7-5, 6-3 victory to reach the quarterfinals. Things got tight in the first set when Anisimova came back from 5-2 down to having a couple of break points at 5-5, but Sabalenka proved ultimately too good. She had too much variety for Anisimova, who could more or less match her power but lacks the kind of plan B that Sabalenka now has. In the decisive game of the first set, with Anisimova serving at 5-6, Sabalenka used a drop shot to draw a missed forehand from her opponent for 15-15. Later in the game, Anisimova constructed a couple of points — one of them the break point from which Sabalenka ultimately took the set — with calmness and precision, dragging Sabalenka way out of position. On both of them, a high-margin drop shot would have been a safe way to end the point. But Anisimova only had another powerful groundstroke in her locker, and she missed them both and lost the set. In her news conference afterwards, Sabalenka talked about the importance of keeping her opponent guessing. 'As much as I could, I tried to change the rhythm against her,' she said. 'I think I did it pretty well, and overall I stayed really aggressive. Those little moments (of variety) help me a lot to put extra pressure on her.' She'll play Zheng Qinwen for a place in the semifinals Charlie Eccleshare Every player who has taken a point when they know, deep down, that a chair umpire or a line judge has made the wrong call ought to take a look at some video from Carlos Alcaraz vs. Ben Shelton at Roland Garros. Alcaraz didn't like a call on a Shelton serve during the first set. He complained to the chair umpire that the ball had ticked the net, but didn't get anywhere. Shelton offered to replay the point. Alcaraz turned him down. Advertisement A set later it was Alcaraz's turn to live tennis etiquette in a way so few players do. Early in the second set, Shelton fired a passing shot at Alcaraz. Alcaraz lunged for it and somehow made the volley as his racket flew out of his hand. The chair umpire gave him the point. Alcaraz said no. He knew his racket had made contact with the ball after it left his hand. He gave Shelton the point. Too much class from Carlitos, who gave the point to Ben Shelton after telling the chair umpire he did not have his racket in his hand when contact was made with the ball 👏#RolandGarros — Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 1, 2025 'I would have felt guilty I didn't say anything about that,' Alcaraz said. 'I have to be honest with myself and with everyone I play,' He said that's what tennis is, or should be. Stuff like this happens a lot in tennis. Here's a simple rule that would solve a lot of problems for players: Be cool. Matt Futterman For an encapsulation of how much more aggressively No. 13 seed Elina Svitolina plays these days, check out the third match point she saved against last year's runner-up, Jasmine Paolini. Svitolina had already saved two match points. Serving down 4-5 in the second set, she got on the front foot in of them; in the other, Paolini went for broke and made an unforced error. The third was the toughest. The set had gone to a tiebreak, and Paolini was serving at 6-5. After seeing off the serve, Svitolina edged her way forward and then ripped a forehand up the line that Paolini could only float back in response. Svitolina, who had anticipated that kind of ball, knifed away a backhand winner to keep herself alive. Svitolina hit 37 winners in total in the match, and pinched the tiebreak 8-6 to level the match at one-set all. Advertisement From there, she kept on attacking and cruised home 6-1 in the decider. Once considered a relatively safe player, Svitolina has dialled up the aggression and it's led to her playing some of the best tennis of her career. Paolini has seen it at closer quarters than most: Svitolina came back from a set down against her at this year's Australian Open, too, winning the final set there 6-0. Next up for Svitolina is a quarterfinal Tuesday against the four-time champion Swiatek, who Svitolina beat at the same stage of Wimbledon two years ago. For Paolini, this defeat will take a bit of getting over. 'I had my chances, and I didn't — I don't know, maybe one match point I could play better, but at the same time, she's a great player,' Paolini said in a post-match news conference. 'She played really well.' Charlie Eccleshare Iga Świątek is the only Roland Garros champion left in the draw… Or is she? Świątek didn't win the last tennis final played on these clay courts: Zheng Qinwen did, beating Świątek on the way to Olympic gold in women's singles last summer. She remains the only player to beat Świątek here since 2021, and she walks the grounds with the swagger of a champion. Zheng outlasted Liudmila Samsonova Sunday, to set up a quarterfinal with Sabalenka, the player she beat in Rome last month. There's no question this is her tennis happy place at the moment. 'I still remember how many times I fall on the ground last year,' she said after the Samsonova win, which she celebrated with the kind of backwards collapse normally associated with Grand Slam titles. 'Even me today I still remember the Olympic Games moment on court. I say to myself during the match, 'Keep fighting, just keep going on, don't look at the score, and let's see what's going to happen.'' Advertisement With that attitude and her recent memories of toppling Sabalenka for the first time in her career, Zheng may be a very tough out for the world No. 1. Matt Futterman Tell us what you noticed on the eighth day… (Top photo of Aryna Sabalenka: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic)
Washington Post
6 hours ago
- General
- Washington Post
French Open: Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul put 2 US 2 men in quarterfinals for 1st time since 1996
PARIS — Before Frances Tiafoe played a point at this French Open , he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about its surface — or his chances in the tournament. 'Last tournament on clay, which I get really excited about,' Tiafoe said on the eve of the Grand Slam event at Roland-Garros. 'And then we get on the real stuff, the grass and the summer hard courts — where tennis actually matters.'
NDTV
a day ago
- Sport
- NDTV
N Sriram Balaji And Miguel Reyes-Varela Crash Out Of French Open 2025
India's N Sriram Balaji and his Mexican partner Miguel Reyes-Varela's French Open journey came to an end with the second round defeat against fourth seed Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in Paris on Saturday. Balaji and Reyes-Varela lost 3-6 4-6 in the second round match that lasted one hour and 24 minutes at Court 7. Reaching the pre-quarterfinals of the Clay Court major last year remains Balaji's best show at Grand Slams. India's other contenders are still alive in the competition with Yuki Bhambri and Rohan Bopanna reaching the pre-quarterfinals with their respective partners. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Reuters
a day ago
- General
- Reuters
America's magnificent eight match 40-year-old record at French Open
PARIS, May 31 (Reuters) - Eight American players -- five women and three men -- have reached the French Open round of 16 this year, matching the country's record from 1985. Saturday's victories for Australian Open champion Madison Keys and world number two Coco Gauff completed the five-player set of American women in the fourth round, where they join Jessica Pegula, Hailey Baptiste and Amanda Anisimova. In the men's draw, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton are all still standing, to equal the record from 40 years ago, quite an achievement given that Americans are traditionally not natural claycourt players. The brick-coloured surface is far more common across Europe where the majority of the claycourt season takes place every year. In 1985, it was also five women and three men, led by tennis greats Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe, who reached the last 16. Bonnie Gadusek, Terry Phelps, Debbie Spence and Aaron Krickstein completed that year's American lineup in the fourth round. "About time," said third seed Pegula, who ousted Czech Marketa Vondrousova to reach the last 16. "It's exciting to see. Obviously, you want to see your fellow countrymen do well on the other side, and I'm always actually keeping up with them, you know, quite a lot." The last American women's champion in Paris was Serena Williams a decade ago while the most recent victory for an American came in 1999 for Andre Agassi.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Brits rise and fall at French Open as Boulter bows out and Norrie battles on
Court Philippe-Chatrier is one of the broadest tennis courts in the world, meaning when things are going badly and the match is rapidly falling away, it makes for a painfully lonely place to be. A day after Emma Raducanu learned this during her heavy defeat by the defending champion Iga Swiatek, Katie Boulter endured a similarly miserable experience as she was comprehensively beaten 6-1, 6-3 by the Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the second round of the French Open. Landing in the path of a recent grand slam champion is rarely good news but there were reasons for Boulter, the British No 1, to be hopeful before her match with Keys. Rather than potentially facing a tricky, cunning clay specialist who could make her extremely uncomfortable, the tactics were at least simple for both: attack first. Although both players attempt to play an uncompromising first-strike game, dictating opponents with their serve and forehands, Keys is simply a better player. Boulter's relative deficiencies were particularly clear on serve. The American has long established herself as one of the best servers in the world, her precise, destructive first delivery is complemented by her tricky, consistent top-spin second effort. The British player is far more temperamental. On a good day, when she finds rhythm and is striking her ground strokes cleanly, Boulter can certainly perform at a high level and she possesses enough weapons to trouble the best players in the world. On Thursday, however, was a poor day with ball in hand for Boulter and it did not take long for her second serve to crumble under the pressure inflicted by Keys, who hunted it down without hesitation. The British No 1, ranked 38th in the world, struck nine double faults, including three times on break point to give away the first three breaks of the match. Her serving did not give her a realistic chance. Although the surface will always be a significant challenge for Boulter, her second clay court season has still represented a positive step forward. She won her first clay court title at any level in the WTA 125 event in Paris just before the French Open and her opening round win against Carole Monnet was her first main draw victory at the French Open. She will now head to the grass, her favourite surface, with higher expectations and greater opportunities. Sonay Kartal, the British No 3, fell 6-1, 6-4 to Marie Bouzkova in the second round after an extremely physical, arduous battle. Having won her first French Open match on her debut, the 23-year-old from London continues to make positive, steady progress and she could break into the world's top 50 for the first time in her career after the tournament, depending on other results. In the men's draw, Cameron Norrie continued to gain momentum as he followed up his spectacular first-round win over Daniil Medvedev, the 11th seed, with an efficient 7-6 (7), 6-2, 6-1 victory over Federico Agustin Gomez of Argentina. After a tough opening set against Gomez, a lucky loser with a searing forehand who was competing in a grand slam tournament for the first time in his career, Norrie relaxed and cruised to victory:.'I played a very steady kind of 6, 7 out of 10 for the whole time,' the world No 81 said. 'It showed in the score. I was very happy with the way I handled it. I felt I didn't play amazing, didn't play that badly. Didn't give him much. So it was a good day.' Norrie will next face a fellow Brit in the third round after Jacob Fearnley advanced at the expense of 22nd seed Ugo Humbert after the Frenchman retired with an injury. Fearnley won the first set 6-4 with the second level at 4-4 when the match was cut short. Arthur Fils, the 20-year-old French No 1, finally made his mark at his home grand slam tournament as he fought through injury to complete an incredible comeback victory against Jaume Munar of Spain, winning 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 2-6, 0-6, 6-4 after four hours and 25 minutes. The French youngster led by two sets but began to struggle with both a back injury and cramps, quickly losing the third and fourth. From a break down in the final set, at the urging of a deafening Court Suzanne-Lenglen crowd, he pulled off a spectacular recovery to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the first time. 'This is my best match of all time, I think,' said Fils. 'I have had big matches before, but I have never had a match like this in five sets before.'
