Key events
Out on 14, Carreno Busta has taken the first set against Tirante and now leads 3-0 in set two; Wang leads Starodubtseva 6-3 but trails 2-4 in the second; Kostyuk leads Golubic 6-4 4-1, looking good; and Linette has just broken Swiatek back for 3-3 in the first.
I very much enjoyed this:
It’s so interesting to hear Murray talk about practise – I remember Kevin Pietersen saying the same to me, first about cricket but also about golf. The mental capacity to enjoy doing the same things, over and over again, and to work out what to do to get better, is just as much a talent as being good at them.
In winning that long game to take the first set, Kostyuk might just’ve broken the back of this match; she now leads 2-0 in the second, and I’m already buzzing at the thought of a fourth-round encounter with Swiatek. Back on Lenglen, Rublev is back in business, breaking Borges to lead 7-5 2-3, and it feels like he’ll do whatever is asked of him to win this match; I don’t think Borges, crafty though he is, can hit consistently enough to beat him.
Now then. Swiatek is brilliant at coaxing herself through the rounds, but she’ll not be happy to be broken immediately, Linette leading 2-0 … er, make that 2-1, the advantage immediately confiscated. Meantime, Rublev has also been broken, the serving that settled set one forsaking him in two, and that, really is the difference; he hammers his racket into the clay, which is better than doing so into himself, and he leads 7-5 1-3.
Borges, who’ll feel unlucky to have lost the first set, breaks Rublev immediately for 5-7 2-0, while Linette holds in game one of her clash with Swiatek.
Better work at the net from Kostyuk restores deuce as the game ticks towards 13 minutes, then she nails a return to raise her fourth set point … only to overhit backhand. If she loses this, I’d not be surprised to see her broken next up because the emotional dump of disappointment might well be distracting. But a backhand winner down the line gives her yet another opportunity to forge in front and this time, Golubic swats wide. Kostyuk, who won both Rouen and Madrid, so hasn’t lost for 13 matches, leads 6-4.
Golubic nets a mid-court forehand when up advantage while, elsewhere, Tirente leads Carreno Busta 6-5 – I’m turning that match off now to get on Swiatek v Linette – and Wang is up on Starodubtseva 6-3 1-0, with a break.
On Mathieu, Kostyuk leads Golubic 5-4 and, at deuce, a terrific return raises a second set point. And she’s well in the rally, until Golubic finds a lovely angle to attack the sideline, cleaning up with an overhead … but when she makes advantage, Kostyuk opens shoulders to annihilate a inside-out forehand cross-court, indulging herself by saluting the crowd … only to make a mess of her next volley, this time opting not to ask what anyone else thinks. She does, though, make advantage again, the power differential clear to see … only to drag a backhand wide when nicely placed; back to deuce we go while, on Lenglen, Rublev returns after disappearing between sets.
Borges dominates the first rally of the game only to tamely waft a volley long. He does, though, make 15-30 … but a really good, flat, squash-shotted forehand from Rublev restores parity and another netted backhand offers him set point, neither player able to sustain their best play. So we wind up at deuce, then an ace and a service winner, fired out wide from the advantage court – the hardest to hit – snatch the set, the emphatic nature of its climax out of keeping with what went before. But Rublev leads 7-5, and Borges will have to play seriously well if he maintains the same standard on first delivery.
A forehand return, coaxed down the line, gives Rublev 0-15 and a backhand of similar quality means that at 0-30, he’s in business. And though Borges levels, a netted backhand means he must face a break point … and another netted backhand donates the breakthrough. At 6-5, Rublev will shortly serve for a first set in which he’s been second-best.
Rublev raises two break points but Borges saves them well, allowing his impetuous opponent to overhit; he leads 5-4 in the first. Similarly, Golubic also burns a break point by going long, but already it’s clear that if Kostyuk plays well, she wins whatever her opponent does; the question is whether she can hit consistently enough, because she’s by far the more powerful and talented player. She holds for 4-3, while Rublev is struggling, Borges outmanoeuvring him around the court, but his serve gets him out of trouble at 0-30, to level at 5-5.
On Lenglen, Borges and Rublev are level at 4-4; Golubic has just been broken back to love by Kostyuk for 3-3, this the first time she’s lost this many games in a set at this tournament; Tirante, the fastest server in the world, leads Carreno Busta 3-2 on serve; and Starodubtseva, conqueror of Rybakina, leads Wang 3-2 with a break.
Preamble
Salut à tous et bienvenue à Roland-Garros 2026 – sixième jour!
Round three, not something that gets us going in theory, but in practice? Oh là là! For round three is when our seeds – or those who’ve vanquished seeds – meet, and we’ve got a frankly wild selection of those contests awaiting us today. Can we beat yesterday’s wildness? Perhaps not, but we’re going to try.
We open with Marta Kostyuk, a talent in the process of realisation but one that, in the past, might’ve been stymied by the wiles of a veteran such as Viktorija Golubic. Her run to the final in Madrid, though, suggests she’s beyond that now … but is she?
Also in action early is Andrey Rublev, whose second-round ruckus with Ugo Cabello was one of the matches of the week so far. He should have enough to get by Nuno Borges, but whether he’s enough to get by himself always remains to be seen.
On Chatrier, meanwhile, we’ve a Polish derby as Iga Swiatek, our four-time champion, faces Magda Linette, and from there, it’s madness all the way. Alex Michelsen’s match with Rafael Jodar offers us a taste of the future, while the fantastic Karolína Muchová, one of the best players yet to win a slam, takes her brand of power and creativity to Jill Teichmann, and Mirra Andreeva resumes her quest for a major with a tricky tussle against Marie Bouzkova.
Were that all, it’d be enough – but it’s not even close. Following on later, we’ve Alex de Minaur v Jakub Mensik, Karen Khachanov v Jesper de Jong, Elina Svitolina v Tamara Korpatsch, Casper Ruud v Tommy Paul, and the undoubted match of the day: João Fonseca, a superstar in the making, versus Novak Djokovic, whose evil genius has somehow removed the two players standing between him and an impossible, possible, 25th grand slam title.
Chauette! On y va!
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/may/29/french-open-2026-xxx-on-day-six-live
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