Quick Served: Roland Garros Day 7
Redraw time! Who does Andy pick to win his first Slam?
Context-free soundbite: “God knows the depth of our desire and desperation is on the men’s side.”
The redraw couldn’t come soon enough after the implosions of the last couple of days. Andy and JW dove into it while the men in the top half were still locked in a wild number of five-setters today. They are focused on the two former Roland Garros finalists in the bottom half, Sascha Zverev and Casper Ruud. Which one do they take to capture the title?
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Men’s Recap
The first week finished with a new Open Era record. Eight of the 16 third-round matches went five sets for the first time. Today, there were six, a marathon of marathons. All four in the top quarter went the distance, and three finished in match tiebreaks.
Highlights
The men’s top half got even more wide-open with Francisco Cerundolo’s loss, which featured a meltdown, his coach leaving the box mid-match and Cerundolo telling his mother and trainer, “I’m never going to win again” and “life hates me.” Cerundolo would have been Sascha Zverev’s toughest opponent in the final with a 3-3 record against him on clay.
On the bright side, the elder Cerundolo lost to someone who deserved some happiness: world No. 85 Zachary Svajda. Svajda’ coach–father passed away in October from cancer, and today is his birthday.
Juan Manuel Cerundolo, the Jannik Sinner slayer, won the longest men’s match of the year over Martin Landaluce, who led 3-0 in the fifth set. Match time: 5:58. Time to stop calling him “the bad Cerundolo” and switch to “JuanMa.”
Matteo Berrettini outlasted Francisco Comesana in five hours, 13 minutes. Now he has the best record against Zverev on clay (2-2) of the remaining field.
🎤 Matteo Berrettini
“I doubted myself too much in the last months and years. I thought I couldn’t come back, I couldn’t feel good on court again. I proved to myself one more time that I can still do this. I can still fight and enjoy my time on court.”
Matteo Arnaldi played four hours, 58 minutes, and it wasn’t even one of the top two longest matches of the day. He beat Raphael Collignon, who had beaten Ben Shelton [5].
Frances Tiafoe [19] came back from the brink, down two sets and a break at 4-3, to beat Jaime Faria in five sets. The trash talk flew on both sides, and Tiafoe had the last word in more ways than one.
🎤 Frances Tiafoe to Jaime Faria during the match
“Why don’t you quit trying to act like you’re tough? You’re not hard, bro. Just play.”
Flavio Cobolli [10], who’s really flying under the radar, made straight-set work of Learner Tien [18], and now he can’t hide. Is he Andy’s pick for the final?
Felix Auger-Aliassime [4] took out Brandon Nakashima in four sets, and without a Frenchman left in the draw, he looks (and sounds) like the crowd favorite.
Alejandro Tabilo knocked out the new teen sensation Moise Kouame in five sets, but Kouame left us with one final act of showmanship.
Women’s Recap
The men’s preponderance of upsets and comebacks has overshadowed the women’s draw, which is more balanced between top contenders and Cinderella stories.
Defending champion Coco Gauff [4] and former semifinalist Amanda Anisimova [6] are out, opening up the draw for Aryna Sabalenka [1]. She is the only Top 10 seed left in the top half.
Sabalenka next plays Naomi Osaka [16], who beat Iva Jovic [17] today in the best match of the women’s draw so far. For the first time in her career, Osaka is into the second week of a slam that’s not on hard court. Reminder: She held match point here against Iga Swiatek [3] in 2024.
Madison Keys [19], who beat Victoria Mboko [9], and Anastasia Potapova [28], who beat Gauff, are emerging as Sabalenka’s biggest competition.
The men’s top half isn’t the only draw wide open. In the women’s top half, one of these players will make the semis: Potapova. Diane Parry, Maja Chwalinska or Anna Kalinskaya.
Diane Parry is the last French player left in either draw after beating Anisimova. That her last name sounds like “Paris” in French could be an omen.
Maja Chwalinska has dropped only one set from qualifying to the Round of 16. She took out a resurgent Maria Sakkari today and plays Parry next. One of those Cinderellas will make her first Slam quarterfinal.
The bottom half of the women’s draw might be the most interesting part of the tournament left. Iga Swiatek [3], Elina Svitolina [7], Mirra Andreeva [8], Marta Kostyuk [15] and Sorana Cirstea [18] are going to war, and any of them could win the title. Cirstea is the last person to beat Sabalenka.
Bracket Challenge Update
Today’s bonus points:
Anastasia Potapova, 24 points for seed differential bonus
Madison Keys, 10 points for seed differential bonus
Diane Parry, 30 points for unseeded upset bonus
Zachary Svajda, 30 points for unseeded upset bonus
Perfect Delivery: Tough Love
Madison Keys is entertained by the chaos in the men’s draw, but (semi-seriously) not impressed with the performances today, blaming the number of five-setters on the field’s anxiety over the opportunity a wide-open draw presents. Something she knows about.
🎤 Madison Keys
“We’ve seen a lot of men’s tennis today. We’re seeing the men deal with it for the first time in a long time, where it feels completely wide open. They should really get their heads around it.”
The women have more experience with open draws in Slams, she said, while the men are used to dominant champions taking the pressure of expectation off of them.
“I think we’ve seen in the men’s scores today that they are all really nervous about who’s going to be in the final and not on the match today. It will come down to who can handle the moment and figure out how to play their best tennis with way more mounting pressure,” she said.
5 hours, 58 minutes
Time of Juan Manuel Cerundolo’s win today over Martin Landaluce, the longest men’s match of the year
On a day filled with five-hour matches, it took a historically long one to top the list. Not only is Cerundolo’s win the longest match of 2026, it’s the third-longest match in Roland Garros history and the fourth-longest Slam match of all time.
Afterward, Cerundolo felt as tired as you’d imagine.
🎤 Juan Manuel Cerundolo in his Spanish press conference
“I’m super happy, but wiped out. By the end I didn’t even feel like thinking anymore.”
Tiebreak Trivia
One man left in the draw had only a single ATP win this year coming into Roland Garros. Who is it?
💡 The answer will be in Day 8’s Quick Served newsletter.
Day 6 answer: Maria Sakkari had the most aces (14) through the first two rounds. Aryna Sabalenka had just two. That’s clay for you.
Quick Hits
One fan had the guts to wear an Arsenal jersey to Roland Garros today. The camera found him.
New this year, Roland Garros is making like the Olympics and giving pins to winners for each round and event. They love them and put them on their lanyards. Good PR recovery from the boycott.
The prospect of João Fonseca winning Roland Garros is making Brazilians blow off the World Cup. Their new anthem is “Forget the Hexa.”
Daniel Vallejo has been fined for saying women shouldn’t umpire raucous men’s matches. He walked back the comment on social media, but has since deleted the post. This gem is still up, though: McCartney Kessler beating him in the 1-Point Slam in Melbourne.
How did Andy not make this list, either? ⬇️
Raghav@raghavv_01Nadal picked his top 10 athletes and didn't put Federer in it 👀8:28 AM · May 30, 2026 · 331K Views62 Replies · 49 Reposts · 911 Likes
🍿 Day 8 Matches
Iga Swiatek [3] vs. Marta Kostyuk [15]
Elina Svitolina [7] vs. Belinda Bencic [11]
Andrey Rublev [11] vs. Jakub Mensik [26]
Casper Ruud [15] vs. João Fonseca [28]
Rafael Jodar [27] vs. Pablo Carreño Busta
Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!
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This is so exciting, I love Roland Garros, it will always be my favourite event.
I love all this drama and newcomers emerging. Or older players reemerging, like Matteo and Maddy.
https://thesugarbaddy.substack.com/p/smashed-behind-the-shower-curtain?r=4t62pk&utm_medium=ios