Chaos reigned (once more!) at Roland Garros on Friday, when Novak Djokovic joined the mass exodus from the season’s second Grand Slam. It’s an exodus that already included Jannik Sinner — and each different energetic male participant who has ever gained a serious title. That’s proper; for the primary time in males’s tennis historical past, no former slam champ is within the spherical of 16. How will Saturday fill the sneakers of the earlier two days (Sinner misplaced to Juan Manuel Cerundolo on Thursday)? We are going to discover out when Felix Auger-Aliassime, Moise Kouame, Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, and extra take the courtroom.
Listed here are my picks for 2 of Saturday’s greatest matchups.
(4) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (31) Brandon NakashimaAuger-Aliassime is the highest-ranked man left within the high half of the draw and possibly needs to be thought-about the favourite to achieve the ultimate. It’s an particularly large bounce in standing for a participant who was one tiebreaker from being on the following flight out of Paris following spherical one. That’s proper — FAA started his event with a 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(10-7) win over Daniel Altmaier. The sixth-ranked Canadian additionally acquired off to a sluggish begin on Thursday, however he was faster to get better in opposition to a much less harmful opponent and acquired the job accomplished 4-6, 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 in opposition to Roman Andres Burruchaga.
Nakashima misplaced their solely earlier assembly 6-3, 6-4 on the indoor exhausting courts of Florence in 2022. The America world No. 35 additionally endured a five-setter earlier this week, outlasting Luca Van Assche 6-7(5), 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in 4 hours and 34 minutes. Nakashima thankfully conserved some power by defeating Roberto Bautista Agut in straight units in spherical one, however the remaining benefit nonetheless goes to Auger-Aliassime. Much more importantly, the two-time U.S. Open semifinalist has way more expertise at this stage of majors. Nakashima has superior out of spherical three at solely two slams and has by no means made it previous the fourth. Search for FAA to advance on this night-session match on Courtroom Philippe-Chatrier.
Choose: Auger-Aliassime in 3
(WC) Moise Kouame vs. Alejandro TabiloKouame is the final Frenchman remaining within the draw (Diane Parry remains to be alive on the ladies’s facet). If not for Jannik Sinner’s loss to Juan Manuel Cerundolo on Thursday, Kouame could be the story of this 2026 Roland Garros. The 17-year-old opened with a straight-set rout of Marin Cilic after which beat Adolfo Daniel Vallejo in a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6(8) thriller.
Up subsequent for Kouame is a first-ever showdown Tabilo, who took a a lot completely different path by way of the primary two rounds. In reality, the Chilean left-hander didn’t even play on Thursday — as an alternative benefiting from a walkover given to him by Valentin Vacherot. That was preceded by a 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Kamil Majchrzak. Though Tabilo is a stable clay-courter, he has gained simply 4 ATP-level matches on dust this spring and is a modest 2-2 lifetime in the primary draw on the FO. With the group behind him, Kouame ought to have the ability to capitalize on this nice probability.
Choose: Kouame in 4
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and in addition maintains his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You may comply with him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
