Rafa, Roger & Stefanos Headline Wednesday Action
Eleven-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal, 2009 winner Roger Federer and sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas headline a busy Day 4 on Wednesday. Seventh seed Kei Nishikori and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the first men’s match on Court Philippe-Chatrier in a blockbuster second-round clash.
Two-time defending champion Nadal faces German qualifier Yannick Maden, who won the first Grand Slam main draw match of his career on Monday. The Spaniard improved to 87-2 in the year’s second major after dropping six games in his first-round victory over another German qualifier in Yannick Hanfmann. Nadal is 14-0 in second-round matches at Roland Garros.
Third seed Federer takes on German lucky loser Oscar Otte, who is competing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time. The Swiss star sprinted past Lorenzo Sonego in his opening round and has looked solid throughout the European clay swing, reaching the quarter-finals at both the Mutua Madrid Open and Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Federer has made it at least to the fourth round in his past 11 appearances in Paris.
Nishikori and Tsonga clash for the first time in three years. Nishikori leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 5-3, but the Frenchman won a five-set quarter-final classic in their only previous Roland Garros meeting in 2015. The Japanese star has advanced at least to the fourth round in his past four appearances in Paris, while Tsonga is a two-time semi-finalist (2013 and 2015) at this event. Both men have won an ATP Tour title this year, with Nishikori prevailing in Brisbane (d. Medvedev) and Tsonga triumphing on home soil in Montpellier (d. Herbert)
“I was really in the match with beautiful intentions. I had played very well the first two sets, and then there was this stop because of the panel, and he came back with different intentions than what was happening during the first two sets,” recalled Tsonga of his 2015 clash with Nishikori. “The match was balanced…I did a fantastic fifth set on the centre court with a fantastic crowd. So that’s the type of match you enjoy because everything is present. You have a great player in front of you. You play your best tennis. You have a crowd cheering you. It’s the best scenario you can have in Roland Garros.”
Tsitsipas squares off with qualifier Hugo Dellien, who became the first Bolivian to win a Grand Slam match in 36 years with his victory on Sunday over Prajnesh Gunneswaran. The sixth seed’s European clay swing includes a stunning victory over Nadal en route to a runner-up finish in Madrid (l. to Djokovic), a semi-final showing in Rome and his third ATP Tour title at the Millennium Estoril Open (d. Cuevas). Tsitsipas’ first-round win on Sunday over Maximilian Marterer made him the first player to reach 30 tour-level wins this season.
Other notable matches on Wednesday include No. 11 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia taking on Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Cilic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 4-1 and has won their past three matches. Swiss Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion and No. 24 seed, plays Cristian Garin. The Chilean has lifted trophies this year at the BMW Open by FWU (d. Berrettini) and Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship (d. Ruud).
ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2019
Court Philippe-Chatrier start 11:00
WTA match
[7] Kei Nishikori vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
[3] Roger Federer vs [LL] Oscar Otte
WTA match
Court Suzanne Lenglen start 11:00
WTA match
[2] Rafael Nadal vs [Q] Yannick Maden
WTA match
Benoit Paire vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Court Simonne-Mathieu start 11:00
[6] Stefanos Tsitsipas vs [Q] Hugo Dellien
WTA match
[11] Marin Cilic vs Grigor Dimitrov
WTA match
Court No. 1 start 11:00
WTA match
Richard Gasquet vs Juan Ignacio Londero
[24] Stan Wawrinka vs Cristian Garin
WTA matchr
Court No. 14 start 11:00
WTA match
[27] David Goffin vs Miomir Kecmanovic
[WC] Nicolas Mahut vs Philipp Kohlschreiber
Court No. 7 start 11:00
[19] Guido Pella vs [WC] Corentin Moutet
Two WTA matches
[21] Alex de Minaur vs Pablo Carreno Busta
Court No. 6 start 11:00
WTA match
Filip Krajinovic vs Roberto Carballes Baena
[17] Diego Schwartzman vs Leonardo Mayer
Court No. 8 start 11:00
[WC] Mathias Bourgue / Jonathan Eysseric vs Elliot Benchetrit / Geoffrey Blancaneaux
WTA match
Radu Albot / Malek Jaziri vs Mikhail Kukushkin / Joran Vliegen
[4] Oliver Marach / Mate Pavic vs Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan / Mischa Zverev
Court No. 9 start 11:00
Marcelo Demoliner / Divij Sharan vs Marton Fucsovics / Robert Lindstedt
[5] Nikola Mektic / Franko Skugor vs Pablo Cuevas / Feliciano Lopez
WTA match
[3] Juan Sebastian Cabal / Robert Farah vs Matthew Ebden / John-Patrick Smith
Court No. 10 start 11:00
Ricardas Berankis / Yoshihito Nishioka vs Mackenzie McDonald / Reilly Opelka
WTA match
John Millman / Jordan Thompson vs [WC] Enzo Couacaud / Tristan Lamasine
Court No. 11 start 11:00
Dusan Lajovic / Janko Tipsarevic vs Santiago Gonzalez / Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi
WTA match
Steve Johnson / Denis Kudla vs Daniel Evans / Cameron Norrie
WTA match
Court No. 12 start 11:00
WTA match
[31] Laslo Djere vs [WC] Alexei Popyrin
Marcel Granollers / Marc Lopez vs Denis Shapovalov / Fernando Verdasco
Court No. 13 start 11:00
Two WTA matches
[29] Matteo Berrettini vs Casper Ruud
Ugo Humbert / Adrian Mannarino vs Benjamin Bonzi / Antoine Hoang
