- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova knocked down Elise Mertens
To open the round of 16 of Roland Garros on Sunday 4 June, the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (333And) managed to get rid of the Belgian Elise Mertens (28And) in three sets (3-6, 7-6 [7-3], 6-3). Roland-Garros finalist in 2021 (beaten by Czech Barbora Krejcikova), the Samara native reached the quarterfinals of the Porte d’Auteuil tournament for the third time in her career (2011, 2021, 2023).
Despite being the lowest ranked player in the remaining women’s rankings, it is difficult to attach the term “outsider” to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who will present herself as a certain threat to her next opponent: Czech Karolina Muchova (43And) or her compatriot Elina Avanesyan (134And).
- Karen Khachanov discouraged Lorenzo Sonego
Lorenzo Sonego (48And), confident, thought he had the upper hand over Karen Khachanov (11And), at the end of the third set. In a set anywhere, the Italian led the deciding match by four points to zero, before losing his means.
Yet, far from being infallible, it was enough for the Russian to consolidate his game and his mind, a winning recipe, which allowed him to pocket the third set, to then smoothly overthrow his opponent of the day (1-6, 6 -4, 7-6 [9-7]6-1).
Quarterfinal for the second time in his career at Roland-Garros, the Russian could chain the third consecutive semifinal in the Grand Slam, if he manages to get rid of his next opponent, to be determined between the Serbian Novak Djokovic (3And) and the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas (94And).
