From Paris with Pace: Roland Garros Heats Up

The past few days at French Open have featured intense battles, dramatic rallies, and standout performances as the tournament enters its decisive stages. Top contenders have continued their push toward the title, while rising stars have challenged the established order on the Paris clay. With the stakes increasing and the draw narrowing, the atmosphere has been electric, setting up an exciting finish to the tournament. 

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Transcript

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And a look ahead at day 10. Boy, have we had an interesting tournament. Obviously, we have talked so much about the upsets and the changes and the early exits. Of course, the last episode we talked about Novak's truck exit. We've had some more since then, so we're gonna dive right into it. Um, but before we do that, I just wanted to give a shout out to Air Aloe, who is sponsoring today's video. To learn more about Air Allo, head to the link in the description and get some cheeky discounts on your data plans when you're traveling. All right, um, let's get into it. Of course, we had Mata Kostiak take out Ego Swyantec, which was pretty crazy. Um, and then in Elena Svidalina take out Belinda Bensic, both pretty long matches, close to two hours for both. Um, obviously Swyatec, Ego Swyantec, sorry, um, was one of the top few seeds left in the tournament on the women's draw. Elena Svidolina obviously uh playing exceptionally well tennis as well. Um, so she took out Belinda Bensik. Um that set up an all-Ukrainian clash between Marta and Elena today. We'll talk about that in just a minute. Um, but either way, there will be a Ukrainian in the semi-finals? Yeah, in the semifinals, which is very, very exciting and it's really wonderful for Ukrainian tennis as well. Um, of course, we also had on the women's site and Surstia take out Wang 6376. Unfortunately, um she has just been taken out. I'm just looking at the live updates at the time of recording this. She has just been taken out a few minutes ago um in the quarterfinals by Mira Andreva. So that leads us to Mira Andreva. She took out Tejman in the fourth round, and she has just taken out Sustiya in the quarterfinals as well. Uh, we also had Sasha Zwarev take out the lucky loser, or otherwise known as the last entry to the men's draw. Um, DeJang pretty comfortably, two hours, 14 minutes, straight set win for Sasha, still on eye for that ultimate prize, um, his first maiden Grand Slam title. So we will see how well he goes. He is in action today. We'll review his match in just a little bit. Uh Caspar also was taken out by Java Fonseca. Fonseca winning in four sets, three hours and 55 minutes. Casper obviously giving all he could, but given the long matches that he had had earlier on in the tournament, he just did not have any more gas left in the tank to go. Umseca setting up a quarterfinal appearance at Roland Garris for the first time. Uh Jakub Menzik taking out Rublev in five, three hours and 45 minutes. Um, obviously, pretty big deal for him given the fact that his second round match uh was really long and he had a very long road of recovery the next couple days after that. Um we also saw Jadar take out Karena Busta as well to set up a class clash with Sasha Zwerev. Um definitely some very interesting matches that occurred on day eight. Uh day nine, of course, being yesterday, we had um Anastasia Kallins sorry Kallinskaya taking out Potopova in three sets, two hours and forty-nine minutes. Uh she will advance, she has advanced to her uh first quarterfinal appearance here at Roland Garrus. Um Schneider has taken out Madison Keys, meaning there is no female American women left in the draw. Um Schneider has taken her out in three sets, an hour and 44 minutes. Um Taya Berrettini making quick work of JM Serendulo, two hours and 32 minutes. Um definitely a bit of a, I wouldn't say struggle, but um not the easiest of matches, but he still managed to get through. Um Oja Aliassim taking out Tabilo in three sets, two hours and six minutes, pretty routine for him, looking in great form. Is it possible that he could win his first grand slam here at Roland Garrus? Of course. Will he? We shall see. Um Swilanskia, who came through actually qualifying, the Polish player who came through qualifying, she has taken out uh Diane Perry is 6'3, 6'2 to set up a quarterfinal berth for her as well. Um Kaboli took out Zdata 6-2-6-3-7-6-7-6. Um, three hours and 19 minutes. Pretty routine match, um, but also could have gone either way. Definitely could have gone to five sets. Uh, they were both playing insane tennis. Um, Arena Sabalenka has taken out Naomi Asaka, one V16, 7-5-6-3, an hour in 27 minutes. Sabelenka's on fire. I don't know what else to say other than she's on fire. Um, but of course, no surprise that she is again in the quarterfinals of Roland Garris. Um, Francis Tiafo did fall to Mateo Alnadi. It will also be Arnaldi's first. A lot of firsts this week. Remember, the draw is not as tight as it's been, or not as predictable as it's been in the last few months, um, or even the last couple years, to be honest. Alnardi has taken out Tiafo five hours, 26 minutes. That was a very long match. Did I watch the whole thing? Yes, I did, but it was very long. Um, and hopefully we will see a pretty solid performance from Al Nardi in the next round. Um, he will take on his countrymen, Mateo Berratini. Um, and hopefully that gives Fo some confidence moving forward. A great tournament for him, although falling short at the quarterfinals, one of the last two American men in the draw. So definitely pretty strong effort from him. Um, all right, let's look at day 10. What have we set up? Of course, we've just said Andreva has taken out Socia. Right now, Elena Svitolina and Mata Kostiak are taking to the stage. We are one minute in and it's just started. Um, Judar and Zurev will take on the next men's singles match on uh Court Philippe Chatrier, um, followed by Menzik and Fonseca a little later this evening. Um, so that will be the quarterfinals matches we see there. Obviously, boys and girls action as well today, and then women's doubles and men's doubles uh quarterfinals as well. So plenty of action on Susan Linglin and Simone Mattel. Um, but of course, the main events are happening on Philippe Chartrier. I still think that it's going to be Svitellini getting through. Let's see, Kostiak has played some amazing tennis uh this tournament in particular, but she is 16-0 on clay. Um, so let's see how she goes there. Um, Fonseca, I think, will get through and upset Menzik in five, but we'll see how that goes. Fonseca's becoming a bit of a five-set bandit. Um, and Sasha's wherev taking on Jadar. Like Sasha said in his last press conference, he's taking it one match at a time. Can he be the Roland Garrett's champion for 2026? Can he be in the finals? Let's see. First, he's got to make it past the Spaniard in the quarterfinals before we know the outcome of that. So a lot going on, a lot of action, a lot of play, and a lot of upsets. I still can't quite believe we're at the the space we're at in the drawer. I think, you know, to have all of these so-called changes and all of these amazing top players drop out of the draw. Super, super early, of course, far more on the men's side than the women's side. The women's side's a little more stacked with some top seeds. Um, but you've lost all your Americans early. Pagula, Keys, Navarro, all the things. Um, but we will see as the tournament progresses into the semifinals how many, you know, how we go. Um, what I will say too is it's very exciting. I'm sure everybody heard the news today. The Queen, Serena, is back. She has decided to play her first tournament back at the HSBC Championships um starting June 8th. So definitely make sure you tune in, watch Serena's return. It'll be the most talked-about thing in tennis once Roland Garrett is over. Um, I think it still is the most talked-about thing in Roland Garrett, um, in tennis so far, including the much, much surprise of the Roland Garrett draw. So very, very interesting tournament. It is shaping up to be definitely uh something very exciting. So stay tuned, stay on it. If you're watching from Australia, you can watch Unstan Sport. If you're watching from the US, use the tennis channel to catch up. And also keep reminded that the Roland Garrett app is live and free on the app store. You can watch live scores, check Roland Garrett radio, tournaments, tickets, everything that you need for the tournament. Alright, guys, enjoy and we will be back to preview day 11 tomorrow and give you a little recap from day 10. Bye.