The schedule has been confirmed ahead of Monday at the 2024 French Open with the Last 16 the order of the day and there is a manic feel to proceedings with a lot of top ties set to take place.
Novak Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Alexander Zverev are among the top names in action on Monday as the Quarter-Final line-up starts to take shape.
In perhaps a bit of a double edged sword, Novak Djokovic will play the day session tomorrow for the first time in many years. The Serbian though in getting back in likely at around 7am on Sunday due to media commitments and warm down likely will have less time to recover as a result of this with his match pencilled in as the last tie of the Day Session.
He will face Francisco Cerundolo though in a match seen as likely a simpler win than Lorenzo Musetti. So it is likely a decision made for those reasons over the issues surrounding the late scheduling. Instead Alexander Zverev v Holger Rune which is seen as a more competitive tie will take Centre Stage in the Night Session. Zverev came close to going out against Tallon Griekspoor but that was in colder conditions which he is known to detest. Whilst it is meant to on paper get warmer on Mondayk, so it might suit him a bit more.
The other men's match will see Daniil Medvedev face off against Alex de Minaur. Whilst Taylor Fritz takes on Casper Ruud in another clash that could headline Court Philippe Chatrier very easily too.
This Manic Monday though has a good feel to it on either side of the draw with the first match of the day on Court Philippe-Chatrier pitting Elena Rybakina against Elina Svitolina. The former is seen as one of the favourites amid the dominance of Iga Swiatek with only really illness stopping her in recent months. Svitolina leads the Head to Head 2-1 winning their last encounter at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games in three sets. The latter has not been in the best form this season. But she often turns it on during Grand Slam tournaments and has done so again this week in Paris. She will look to spring an upset.
As will Emma Navarro who has form for doing so against Aryna Sabalenka before. Wanting to keep her US Olympic Games hopes alive, she saw off Madison Keys in two sets yesterday to reach the fourth round. From not being able to beat Diana Shnaider in a WTA 125k final to reaching the Last 16 of Roland Garros, funny how tennis works.
She also has form with Navarro defeating Sabalenka at Indian Wells earlier this season so she could do it again and represents Sabalenka's biggest test thus far. The other clashes see Elina Avanesyan who also impressed last year too continuing to do so.
She saw off Qinwen Zheng and now has another top seed in 12th seed Jasmine Paolini in her sights who narrowly defeated Bianca Andreescu amid the rain yesterday. Whilst Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva who has previously practiced with Mirra Andreeva and in the words of the 17-year-old is a friend. So all notion of that will have to go out the window. She has now reached the fourth round at every Grand Slam though whilst Gracheva is in uncharted territory. An interesting complexion awaits.
Court Philippe-Chatrier
Starts at 11:00am CET
Elina Svitolina (15) v Elena Rybakina (4)
Emma Navarro (22) v Aryna Sabalenka (2)
Novak Djokovic (1) v Francisco Cerundolo (23)
Alexander Zverev (4) v Holger Rune (13)
Court Suzanne-Lenglen
Starts at 11:00am
Elina Avanesyan v Jasmine Paolini (12)
Alex de Minaur (11) v Daniil Medvedev (5)
Varvara Gracheva v Mirra Andreeva
Taylor Fritz (12) v Casper Ruud (7)