Three years at this same venue, in his first Major final, Stefanos Tsitsipas was up two-sets-to-love against Novak Djokovic, yet failed to close out the match. Two years later in Melbourne, Tsitsipas reached Major final, but again ran into Djokovic, and on that day the Greek failed to win a set. On Thursday in the Olympic quarterfinals, Stefanos gets another chance to earn a victory over Novak on a big occasion.
In another men’s singles quarterfinal, Carlos Alcaraz returns to the court a day after doubles disappointment, and takes on a man who owns multiple victories over him, Tommy Paul. Plus, a pair of Major finalists, Casper Ruud and Sascha Zverev, each face a Major semifinalist, in Felix Auger-Aliassime and Lorenzo Musetti.
And there’s even bigger stakes in Thursday’s women’s singles matches, as we are onto the medal rounds. Iga Swiatek headlines the semifinals against Australian Open runner-up Qinwen Zheng, while recent Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic squares off against the biggest surprise of this tournament, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who has never even advanced beyond the fourth round of a Major.
Day 6 also provides quarterfinal and semifinals action from the doubles draws, including Dan Evans and Andy Murray once again playing to prolong Andy’s career.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Thursday’s play begins at 12:00pm local time.
Iga Swiatek this week in Paris (twitter.com/itftennis)
Iga Swiatek [POL] (1) vs. Qinwen Zheng [CHN] (6) – 12:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Two years ago on this same court, Qinwen took the first set off Swiatek in their first meeting, before succumbing to Iga in three. And since then, their matches have all gone the way of the World No.1, who is 6-0 against Zheng. That includes two straight-set victories this season, both on hard courts.
Swiatek is now a tremendous 51-5 in 2024, with five individual titles, as well as a title in the United Cup team event. She has dropped only one set through four matches during this tournament, to Danielle Collins in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Qinwen has endured a much more complicated path, playing back-to-back three-setters across the last two days, both of which lasted over three hours. Her match against Emma Navarro was quite contentious, while her match against Angelique Kerber was extremely emotional, so Zheng will be far from 100% on Thursday.
And that is the last thing you want to be when facing Swiatek at Roland Garros, a venue where she is on a 25-match winning streak. While Qinwen possesses the kind of power that can threaten the four-time French Open champion, as we saw Naomi Osaka do a few months ago, Iga is a considerable favorite to advance to the gold medal match.
Stefanos Tsitsipas on Wednesday in Paris (twitter.com/itftennis)
Novak Djokovic [SRB] (1) vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas [GRE] (8) – 7:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Including the heartbreaking losses Tsitsipas has suffered to Djokovic in Major finals, he’s won only two of 13 encounters against the all-time great. Stefanos actually took two of their first three matchups, back in 2018 and 2019 on hard courts, but since then Novak has claimed the last 10. And since their five-set French Open final three years ago, Djokovic has only lost one of their 12 sets played.
Both men should come into this match feeling fresh, as they’ve both advanced rather comfortably, and both earned straight-set victories early in the day on Wednesday. Tsitsipas would certainly love to turn this rivalry around on the same court where it seemingly became extremely one-sided, especially considering he also lost a five-setter to Djokovic in the 2020 semifinals. Clay remains the Greek’s best surface, and representing his country instead of just himself may help Stefanos, as will only needing to take two sets from Novak instead of three.
Plus, as amazingly well as Djokovic has played since undergoing knee surgery less than two months ago, his knee still can’t be 100%. And the only match Novak has played since surgery against a player ranked as high as Stefanos was in the Wimbledon final, which he lost in straight sets to Alcaraz, in a match where Djokovic’s lack of mobility on that knee was exposed. However, while a Tsitsipas upset on Thursday would not shock me, winning a gold medal for Serbia means more to Djokovic than anything else at this stage of his career. And considering the recent history in this rivalry, Novak must be favored.
Other Notable Matches on Thursday:
Tommy Paul [USA] (9) vs. Carlos Alcaraz [ESP] (2) – Paul’s two victories over Alcaraz both came in Canada, in August of 2022 and 2023. But just a few weeks ago in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Carlitos beat Tommy in four sets, giving the Spaniard a 3-2 edge in their head-to-head.
Lorezno Musetti on Wednesday in Paris (twitter.com/itftennis)
Alexander Zverev [GER] (3) vs. Lorenzo Musetti ITA] (11) – Zverev remains undefeated in Olympic singles matches, as he tries to defend his gold medal from three years ago. And he is 1-0 against Musetti, though Lorenzo retired midway through that match two years ago due to injury, and the Italian is currently playing the best tennis of his career.
Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram [USA] (4) vs. Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek [CZE] – This is a men’s doubles semifinal, a day after Krajicek and Ram eliminated Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal in front of a raucous crowd. Ram is the only player in this match to previously win an Olympic medal, taking silver eight years ago in Rio alongside Venus Williams in mixed doubles.
Felix Auger-Aliassime after his victory on Wednesday (twitter.com/itftennis)
Casper Ruud [NOR] (6) vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime [CAN] (13) – Ruud is 3-2 against Auger-Aliassime at tour level, though they’ve split two meetings on clay, with Felix defeating Casper just a few months ago in Madrid. And the Canadian is coming off his first victory in eight tries over Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday.
Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul [USA] (3) vs. Daniel Evans and Andy Murray [GBR] – This will be the fourth match within two days for both Fritz and Paul, while Evans and Murray had a day off on Wednesday. The Brits have already saved seven match points to advance to this quarterfinal.
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova [SVK] vs. Donna Vekic [CRO] (13) – Schmiedlova beat both of the recent Wimbledon finalists in the last two rounds: Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova. Vekic survived a roller coaster of a quarterfinal against Marta Kostyuk, that started on Wednesday night and ended on Thursday morning afterx an extended third set tiebreak. Vekic won her only previous meeting with Schmiedlova.
Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.
