The schedule has been confirmed for Friday 31 May as the first full week of Roland Garros action amid all the rain delays heads slowly towards its conclusion with many of the contenders back on court.
Among them include Iga Swiatek, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff who will all play on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Friday in a stacked line-up. The rest of the line-up mainly hinges on doubles with that tournament finally getting matches completed.
For another day, it is the WTA stars that are snubbed for a Night Session and it is Iga Swiatek who will play last likely to an empty court who will all be leaving after watching two prior likely lengthy matches. But that is another topic entirely.
Swiatek though will have the same slot that she employed against Naomi Osaka in the last round which turned out to be a match that she didn't expect to have as much trouble in. She was truly superb though and will start her birthday hoping to get off court as soon as she can against a player she has never played.
But the correlation is perhaps there in facing a Czech player and her Grand Slam losses. Last time, it was Linda Noskova. This time, Bouzkova will hope to be the cork in the bottle and do what others couldn't and take down the Queen of Clay.
It is an interesting facet on Friday with both of the injured party going into the tournament return to action and one tie in particular will harbour flashbacks. Jannik Sinner will face Pavel Kotov again as he did in Madrid.
But that match stretched him to his limit and also hampered him with the hip injury that nearly kept him out of the 2024 French Open. So he will perhaps do differently this time and attack the tie differently to stop any issues. While he hasn't looked at his best thus far, he hasn't been tested. So will his hip stand-up? Time will tell. He was in the stands again to watch girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya and perhaps has other distractions to stop the hip taking centre stage. This is despite him not wanting to talk about it.
Christopher Eubanks and Richard Gasquet were perfect opponents for him. But will Kotov cause him problems. Time will tell. Same with Carlos Alcaraz who hasn't had his forearm tested yet. But he did struggle at times against Jesper de Jong. He faces a tough test though and one that could herald a seismic shock. Sebastian Korda is no stranger to hostile crowds as he showed in Rome and if they support Alcaraz this time around, he will certainly show the fight to duel them. He will know that Alcaraz isn't 100% and it is up to him to put his name in lights and cause an upset.
Starting off proceedings on Court Philippe-Chatrier is one Coco Gauff who could be on a collision course in the latter stages against Iga Swiatek again. She faces Dayana Yastremska. A success story from Australia, she will hope to catch Gauff on an off day. An occurrence as of late and one that Gauff doesn't really get punished for.
But Gauff is vulnerable perhaps compared to when she won the US Open and it could be another for upset watch. Elsewhere, Leylah Fernandez will take on Ons Jabeur in one of the ties of the day from elsewhere around Paris. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev continue their campaigns against Zhizhen Zhang and Matteo Arnaldi in particular.
Elsewhere Felix Auger-Aliassime faces Ben Shelton, Hubert Hurkacz takes on Denis Shapovalov and some intriguing stories after WTA shocks as Chloe Paquet faces Marketa Vondrousova, the Collins slayer Olga Danilovic takes on Donna Vekic. Corentin Moutet and Zizou Bergs continue superb runs. All on Friday at Roland Garros. What a day awaits.
Court Philippe-Chatrier
Starts at 12:00
Coco Gauff (3) v Dayana Yastremska (30)
Pavel Kotov v Jannik Sinner (2)
Iga Swiatek (1) v Marie Bouzkova
Not before 20:15
Sebastian Korda (27) v Carlos Alcaraz (3)
Court Suzanne-Lenglen
Starts at 12:00
Liudmila Samsonova (17) v Elisabetta Cocciaretto
Andrey Rublev (6) v Matteo Arnaldi
Leylah Fernandez (31) v Ons Jabeur (8)
Zhizhen Zhang v Stefanos Tsitsipas (9)
Court Simonne-Mathieu
Starts at 11:00
Olga Danilovic v Donna Vekic
Chloe Paquet v Marketa Vondrousova (5)
Hubert Hurkacz (8) v Denis Shapovalov
Corentin Moutet v Sebastian Ofner
Court 14
Starts at 11:00
Anastasia Potapova v Xinyu Wang
Zizou Bergs v Grigor Dimitrov (10)
Ben Shelton (15) v Felix Auger-Aliassime (21)
Court 7
Starts at 11:00
Clara Tauson v Sofia Kenin