Day 5 features all eight men’s singles third round matches, all four women’s singles quarterfinals, and a variety of action from the doubles draws.
Iga Swiatek is on a 24-match winning streak at Roland Garros, which includes three consecutive French Open title runs. In Wednesday’s quarterfinals, she plays Danielle Collins, who is having the best season of her career, and is capable of hitting anyone off the court. The winner will face either Australian Open runner-up Qinwen Zheng or the retiring Angelique Kerber, who has pulled off some Olympic magic in Paris.
In the men’s singles draw, all eight of the highest seeds to play are still remaining, and all of them will play on Day 5. That includes Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, and Daniil Medvedev. Alcaraz will play twice on Wednesday, as he also has a third round doubles match alongside Rafael Nadal. And Taylor Fritz is scheduled to play three matches on Wednesday, as he remains alive in three of the draws, and his busy day starts off with a Wimbledon quarterfinal rematch against Lorenzo Musetti.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Wednesday’s play begins at 12:00pm local time.
Lorenzo Musetti [ITA] (11) vs. Taylor Fritz [USA] (7) – Not Before 1:00pm on Court 14
Just a few weeks ago at Wimbledon, Fritz was favored over Musetti to reach his first Major semifinal in his fourth attempt. But Fritz faltered at the end of that match, while Musetti elevated his game, taking the fifth set 6-1 to achieve the career milestone that still evades Taylor. Now at the Olympics, the American gets a chance to avenge that heartbreaking loss.
Overall they have split four previous encounters, though both of their 2024 meetings have gone to the Italian, which also includes a straight-set win in Monte Carlo on clay. But the only other time these two men faced off while representing their countries, two years ago in Davis Cup, Fritz prevailed in straights.
Taylor required three sets to get past Jack Draper early in the day on Tuesday, before returning to the court in the evening to win a mixed doubles match alongside Coco Gauff. Lorenzo is yet to drop a set in singles, and was already eliminated from the men’s doubles draw. So unlike Fritz, this isn’t the first of three matches on the day for Musetti.
However, Musetti just arrived in Paris on Sunday morning, after playing all last week in Umag, losing the championship match on Saturday evening. Lorenzo has played a whole lot of tennis within the past two months, with 15 matches on grass, and now six singles matches on clay, so he cannot be fully fresh at this point. And with revenge on his mind, I give the slight edge to Taylor on Wednesday.
Iga Swiatek earlier this week in Paris (twitter.com/itftennis)
Iga Swiatek [POL] (1) vs. Danielle Collins [USA] (8) – Third on Court Suzanne-Lenglen
In the least surprising news of this tournament, Swiatek is yet to drop a set through three rounds, though she hasn’t been quite as dominant as normal, handing out only two breadsticks and no bagels to this stage. Iga is playing for her first Olympic medal, after losing in the second round of the Tokyo Games to Paula Badosa. At a venue where she is now 38-2 lifetime, Swiatek is a huge favorite to win gold, but that puts a lot of pressure and expectations on her young shoulders.
Collins is now 42-12 in her last year on tour, having won back-to-back titles earlier this season in Miami and Charleston. She’s survived back-to-back three-setters the last two days in Paris, both of which have been extremely warm days. And after prevailing in singles on Tuesday afternoon, a match which at one point saw her in tears on court, seemingly from distress in the heat, she played women’s doubles on Tuesday evening. So Danielle will be far from 100% fully recovered for this quarterfinal.
These players have met seven times within the last four season, with Swiatek claiming six of those seven matches. But Collins’ sole victory was a significant one, in the 2022 Australian Open semifinals, advancing Danielle to her only Major final to date. The American also pushed Iga to three sets this past January in Melbourne. Her penetrating groundstrokes, especially on the backhand side, are rewarded by the fast courts in Australia. Yet on this slower surface, where Swiatek has much more time to set up her shots, and to use her court coverage to her advantage, The World No.1 must be favored to advance to the medal rounds.
Other Notable Matches on Wednesday:
Novak Djokovic on Monday (twitter.com/itftennis)
Novak Djokovic [SRB] (1) vs. Dominik Koepfer [GER] – Four years ago on clay in Rome, Djokovic defeated Koepfer 6-3 in the third.
Sebastian Baez [ARG] (12) vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas [GRE] (8) – Tsitsipas is 2-0 against Baez, though both of those matches have been tight.
Angelique Kerber earlier this week (twitter.com/itftennis)
Angelique Kerber [GER] vs. Qinwen Zheng [CHN] (6) – Kerber has only won 10 matches since returning from child birth this season, yet this is the third time she’s won three matches at the same tournament. Qinwen survived a long, grueling, and contentious battle on Tuesday against Emma Navarro. Two years ago in Indian Wells, Kerber beat Qinwen in three sets.
Roman Safiullin [AIN] vs. Carlos Alcaraz [ESP] (2) – Alcaraz is now 4-0 across two rounds of both men’s singles and doubles during this event, but last fall in this same city, he lost to Safiullin at the Paris Masters.
Felix Auger-Aliassime [CAN] (13) vs. Daniil Medvedev [AIN] (4) – Medvedev is a perfect 7-0 against Auger-Aliassime, and hasn’t lost a set to the Canadian since beating him in a near five-hour five-setter at the 2022 Australian Open, though they’ve never met on clay.
Alexander Zverev [GER] (3) vs. Alexei Popyrin [AUS] – Zverev leads their head-to-head 2-0, with victories in 2018 and 2019, both on hard courts.
Alcaraz listening to Nadal on Tuesday (twitter.com/itftennis)
Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal [ESP] vs. Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram [USA] (4) – Alcaraz and Nadal survived a stern test on Tuesday from Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof. Krajicek and Ram are two of the best doubles players in the world, and both are Major champions in men’s doubles.
Marta Kostyuk [UKR] (12) vs. Donna Vekic [CRO] (13) – Kostyuk outlasted Maria Sakkari on Tuesday, while Vekic upset second-seeded Coco Gauff. Two months ago at this same venue, Donna defeated Marta in the second round of the French Open.
Wednesday’s full Order of Play is here.
