The 2020 French Open qualifying round begins tomorrow Monday Sep 21 after the tournament was delayed from its usual June time frame due to COVID19 Pandemic. The main draw will air starting Sunday, Sep 27 through Sunday, Oct 11.
The tournament will be headlined by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on the men’s side and Simona Halep and Serena Williams on the women’s side.
Nadal will be going for a record 13th French Open and his 20th Grand Slam, which would tie him with Federer for all-time major titles. Djokovic will be coming off a stunning disqualification in the U.S. Open as he eyes for his 18th Grand Slam. Meanwhile, Federer will not be playing at the 2020 French Open, as he recovers from knee injury.
U.S. Open winner Dominic Thiem will try for back-to-back Grand Slam win. Veteran Andy Murray has received a French Open wild card and will hope for a comeback in tennis.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams will try once again to tie Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slams, after falling short at the U.S. Open. While top seed Simona Halep will look for her 3rd major.
World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty will again not be playing due to coronavirus concerns. Meanwhile U.S. Open winner Naomi Osaka withdrew from French Open due to a hamstring injury.
Despite the rise in cases in Paris, French open will allow fans in the stands. Earlier, the organizers allowed up to a combined 11,500 fans on the three main courts. They changed those guidelines recently, limiting the number to 5,000 and only on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Let’s share the Grand Slam updates on this thread.
Roland Garros tournament directors confirmed two players and a coach tested positive for COVID-19 during the French Open qualifying tournament.
The FFT is planning to allow 5,000 spectators per day following a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the country. It had previously said the clay-court major would permit a maximum of 11,500 fans per day.
World #7 Andreescu has joined Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty in the list of women’s players who have pulled out of French Open 2020.
“I have come to the difficult decision to skip the clay court swing this year and will be taking the remainder of the season off to focus on my health and training,” the Canadian said.
The 20-year-old further said she is looking forward to the next year’s Tokyo Olympics and wants to utilise the time in improving her game.
Nadal will return to the Roland Garros with a chance to equal Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles. Nadal is a 12-time champion at the clay-court major and boasts a 93-2 tournament record, starting with his title run on his 2005 debut as a teenager.
Although despite having a top notch record on clay Nadal failed to deliver at the recently concluded ATP masters in Rome. An upset by Schwartzman in the semi final led to Djokovic winning the tournament.
The 2020 Roland Garros will feature all the top 10 players except Roger Federer.
Corentin Moutet and Lorenzo Giustino faced each other in Round 1 of the French Open. They created history by making it the second longest match in Roland Garros history. The match lasted for 6 hours and 5 minutes.
A total of 459 points was won by both the players collectively, Guistino defeated the Frenchman 0-6, 7-6, 7-6, 2-6, and 18-16. It was also the first Grand Slam win for the Italian player Guistino. The fifth set scoreline was 18-16, a record for French Open’s red clay. It was almost as if nobody will give up at any point. Surprisingly, Giustino won only 34 games as compared to Moutet’s 40 but still ended on the winning side.
4th seed Medvedev crashes out! Nadal, Williams win opener.
Russian Daniil Medvedev, a runner-up at the 2019 U.S. Open and semi-finalist in New York this year, was knocked out from the first round of the French Open for the 4th successive year. Medvedev lost to Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-4 7-6(3) 2-6 6-1.
Serena William’s will have to wait for her 24th Grand Slam title after an Achilles tendon injury has forced her to withdraw from the ongoing French Open.
Top seeded Djokovic advances to last 16 for the 11th straight year after a straight set win 6-0 6-3 6-2 over Colombian Daniel Galan.
He will be up against Russian Karen Khachanov in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday, October 5.
Today, Nadal will be playing against rising American star Korda for a place in the French Open quarterfinal.
After a devastating five-set loss to Dominic Thiem at last month’s U.S. Open final, Alexander Zverev is all set to claim his first Grand Slam title.
He defeated Austria’s Dennis Novak in the first round this week before showing his mental toughness in a five-set marathon win over Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert. He followed it up with a commanding straight sets win over former French Open semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato.
Today Zverev is set to face Italian teenager Jannik Sinner (ranked #75) in the fourth-round match.
In another fourth round match today, US Open Champion Dominic Thiem will face giant-killer Hugo Gaston. 20 yr old Gaston had produced one of the biggest upsets of the year when he had stunned the 2015 Champion Stan Wawrinka out of the 3rd round in five sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, on Friday.
It will be interesting to see if Gaston can pull off another upset against the 3rd seeded Thiem.
In the 4th men’s singles match played today, Argentine Diego Schwartzman (12th seeded) faces Italian Lorenzo Sonego (unseeded). Schwartzman continues his great form at Roland Garros after a thumping win over Nadal in Rome last month, where he had upset the King of Clay on his favorite surface. Sonego is also having a career-best Slam run so far at French open.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal defeated Sebastian Korda in straight sets to enter the quarterfinals. The 12-time champion won 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 in an hour and 52 minutes while battling windy conditions.
Nadal will next face Jannik Sinner. 19-year-old Sinner, ranked 75, put in a superb performance to beat the US Open finalist Alexander Zverev in another 4th round match today.
Sinner, 19, is the youngest to have made the last-eight of a Grand Slam tournament in 14 years.
Dominic Thiem survives a spirited Hugo Gaston 6-4 6-4 5-7 3-6 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals in Paris.
While Schwartzman continued his stealthy progress as he eases into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-3 6-4 victory over Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
In Women’s singles, Simona Halep stunned by Iga Swiatek
Swiatek bounced Halep, the top seed, in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 in the fourth round to deliver the biggest surprise so far in a women’s draw.
3rd Seeded Svitolina, Podoroska and Trevisan advance to the Quarter-finals.
Swiatek will face Trevisan while Svitolina will face Padoroska in quarter-finals on Tuesday, 6th Oct.
Rafael Nadal has reached his 13th Roland Garros semi-final with a straight-sets win over Italian teenager Jannik Sinner. Nadal defeated 19-year-old Sinner 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-1 to clinch a 98th victory in his 100th match at the French Open. He will next face Diego Schwartzman over whom he holds a 9-1 career advantage, as he moves closer to equalling Roger Federer’s all-time record of 20 major grand slams.
Nadia Podoroska, An Argentine qualifier, has scripted history at French Open. Her win against third seed Elina Svitolina has made her first ever qualifier to reach French Open Semis in open Era. She is only third women qualifier to reach a Grand Slam Semis in open Era.
To make matter all the more sweeter, This is only her second main draw of a major tournament.
Novak Djokovic advances to semi-finals with win over Pablo Carrena Busta 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. The World#1 will next face Stefanos Tsitsipas, who ousted Hamburg European Open champion Andrey Rublevin straight sets.
In other men’s singles semifinal, 12-time champion Rafael Nadal will face Diego Schwartzman.
Both the semi-final matches will be played on Friday 9th Oct.
Women’s Singles Semi-Finals will be played today
In the women’s singles semi-final event, Kvitova will face this year’s Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin for a place in a maiden French Open final.
In other semifinal, Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska, who had defeated 3rd seed Elina Svitolina, will compete against Polish teenager Iga Swiatek.
Its the Men’s semi final tonight. The Champion of Clay, Rafael Nadal faces the Argentine Diego Schwartzman. Just about 2 weeks ago Nadal was blown out by Schwartzman in the ATP Rome Masters and he will look to avenge his defeat at Roland Garros. Nadal who is in the quest to equal Roger Federer`s 20 Grand Slam titles has only ever lost two matches at the claycourt major - to Robin Soderling and Novak Djokovic. If you look at the history between these two Nadal is 10-1 up and in his prime form as he has dropped only 34 games in the last 5 matches.
The other semi-final will see Novak Djokovic against Tsitsipas. Djokovic has been defeated in the past by Tsitsipas and he battled injury issues in his quarter-final match. Djokovic is chasing a second Roland Garros title and 18th Grand Slam to become the first man in half a century to win all four major Grand Slams twice. Tsitsipas, the Greek teenager has impressed with his attacking gameplay and big crunchy services.
Its going to be a battle between the favourites and the Underdogs. Who do you think will win?
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