At the end of the day we will know the posters of the two square Aces of the French Open. The second day devoted to the quarter-finals is indeed being played this Wednesday at the Central de Roland-Garros and promises some sparks. Queen of the women’s circuit, the Polish Iga Swiatek will aim for a 33rd success in a row. In the women’s draw, the Croatian Marin Cilic, who beat Medvedev in the previous round, will try to thwart the odds against Rublev. During the night session the Danish prodigy Holger Rune faces the Norwegian Casper Ruud (n°8) for a fight between Vikings.
Will Swiatek say 33?
Since the beginning of the women’s tournament, there is her and the others. The only player in the world’s top 10 still in contention, the Polish Iga Swiatek faces the American Jessica Pegula. The two players have met twice on the tour so far and each has won a match. However, Swiatek will have – and this is an understatement – the favor of the forecasts this Wednesday. The world number 1 has been intractable since the start of the tournament. Simply since the start of the season. She remains on 32 rank successes. A performance that allows her to match the series of victories of the Belgian Justine Hénin.
Only the Williams sisters have done better since the beginning of the 21st century: Venus has won 35 games in a row, Serena 34. She would equal the eldest of the Williams in the event of a final victory at Roland-Garros on Saturday.
Until then, she will have to be wary of Pegula who has the particularity of being the daughter of… billionaires. Terrence, the father of the world number 11 – and American number 2 behind Danielle Collins, number 8 -, is a businessman who made his fortune in natural gas and has an estimated wealth of 5.4 billion euros. euros, according to Forbes. Mom Kim is the head of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Buffalo Sabers (NHL) ice hockey and Buffalo Bills (NFL) football teams.
Cilic, the surprise
Before the start of the tournament, no one would have bet a penny on the Croatian Marin Cilic. At 33, the world number 23 didn’t seem like a threat to his opponents in his part of the table. Triple Grand Slam finalist, victorious at the US Open in 2014, he had not gone beyond the quarter-final stage since the US Open in 2018. But Gilles Simon’s 3rd round striker seems to have found his legs as a young first on clay at Roland-Garros. He made short work of Daniil Medvedev, world No. 2, in 8th (6-2, 6-3, 6-2) and could well prolong the pleasure a little more against the Russian with the neutral banner Andrey Rublev, who took advantage of the abandonment of the Italian prodigy Jannik Sinner in the previous round.
Scandinavian fight between Rune and Ruud
One miracle can hide another! Barely 19 – one was born at the end of April, the other at the beginning of May – Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune are the two new nuggets of world tennis. Nuggets that will soon replace the generation of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic in the hearts of fans… who, one day, will end up no longer despotically dominating the circuit…
Unknown to the general public at the start of the fortnight, ranked 450th in the world at the start of last year, the Dane Rune should soon enter the top 20. -5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4), he is playing his first quarter in a Major this Wednesday… for his 3rd participation in a Grand Slam. The student seems to learn quickly.
He will also have to learn the lessons of the past. In the quarter, the first Dane to reach the Grand 8 in a Grand Slam faces the Norwegian Casper Ruud whom he has never beaten in a tournament in 3 games. Their last Viking duel dates back to the Monte-Carlo tournament where they were eliminated in the second round after a terrible showdown (7-6, 7-5).
At 23, Casper Ruud, who like a masked ghost advances in this tournament, is a surface specialist (7 of his 8 ATP 250 titles have been won on clay). “It’s the Grand Slam that I liked to see when I was a child and it’s fantastic to have the best results here,” said the Norwegian. I hope to be able to continue this momentum of consecutive victories. Today (Monday after his success against Hurkacz), I think I played one of the best tennis possible in the first 2 sets, and then I had to come back after the third set. I hope I can do the same in the next round. »
In search of the new star
They were 19 on the starting line. 19 Blues to compete in the Roland-Garros Espoirs tournament. After two days there are only 3 left. Among the boys, the last chances rest on the shoulders of Gabriel Debru and Arthur Gea. A very sad record when they had achieved a “grand slam” last year by being four at the meeting of the semi-finals…
Among the girls, only Yaroslava Bartashevich got out of the first two rounds. Mathilde Ngijol-Carré, the 14-year-old great hope, who won the Petits As last year, was beaten on Tuesday.
THE PROGRAM
Court Philippe-Chatrier, from 12 p.m.
Veronika KUDERMETOVA (Russian/No.29) – Daria KASATKINA (Russian/No.20); Iga SWIATEK (Pol/n°1) – Jessica PEGULA (USA/n°11) ; Andrey RUBLEV (Russia/No.7) defeated Marin CILIC (Crow/No.20).
Not before 8:45 p.m.
Casper RUUD (Nor / n ° 8) – Holger RUNE (Dan).