Quick and clear. Which players remain in contention for triumph at Roland Garros?

The French Open spider has already thinned out. The Paris Grand Slam has its first eight finalists. Who are the favourites still in contention and which interesting names are past this clay court season?

The biggest stars in the collision court

That much is expected of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros is as well-known a fact as the French Open being held in Paris. Both elite players are fulfilling the expectations so far.

The Serbian tennis player hasn’t lost a set in three matches, even Davidovich Fokina couldn’t threaten him on Friday. Although he repeatedly had a break advantage and played the 22-time grand slam winner twice in tiebreaks.

But it’s the important balls and tiebreakers that are a treat for the 22-time grand slam winner. And tiebreaks are one of those situations. Djoker has won the last six tiebreaks that the match has taken him to. This year’s record in the short game speaks for him with a ratio of 14:3.

There is a lot of interest in the Spanish tennis player Alcaraz. At the age of 20, he is the world number one and Spain has a very good replacement for Rafael Nadal. On clay this year, Carlito has gone out a winner in 23 of 25 matches. So far this year’s Roland Garros has produced only one set lost for the Spaniard. He also had no problem in his match against Canadian Shapoval.

It’s premature, but given what’s happening on and around the courts, it would be fitting for these two tennis players to participate in a joint final. However, that cannot happen, thanks to Djokovic being the tournament’s number three, it was realistic that the draw would place them in the same half of the pool. This has happened, so if nobody can stop the aforementioned fighters, we will have the Alcaraz-Djokovic semi-final in a week.

Other successful players

The tournament’s number five Stefanos Tsitsipas also remains in the game. He has lost only one set so far in the Grand Slam, and that was to Czech tennis player Jiri Vesely. Tomorrow, he will face Austrian qualifier Ofner and then a hot Southern European duel against Alcaraz.

Russian Karen Khachanov is also guaranteed to reach the eight finals, as he was one of the few tennis players who played more winning shots than errors in the quarterfinals. And you rarely lose in tennis with statistics like that. Will the Russian surpass his 2019 French Open best, when he reached the quarterfinals? A challenge like thunder. He can meet Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

There are other interesting players at the bottom of the leaderboard who will play in the eighth round today. I’m sure the home fans know that the American Fritz will be on the court. The big names that are still in action are the two northerners – Casper Ruud and Holger Rune. And one unexpected name and conclusion. In his Roland Garros debut, Brazil’s Seyboth Wild is close to advancing to the second week , having earned the biggest scalp in the first round.

Who has already said goodbye?

It was against the Brazilian that the number two player in the rankings, Daniil Medvedev, dropped out right at the start. And he’s not the only Russian favourite to bid farewell to the clay Grand Slam. Yesterday, after a five-set battle with Italian Songe, the tournament’s number seven Andrey Rublyov also said goodbye.

The Italians already have two certain eight-finalists, but their ranks have also suffered a noticeable loss. World number nine Jannik Sinner succumbed to Germany’s Altmaier in a marathon battle that lasted nearly five and a half hours.

Source : Roland Garros