The programme, from 11am: Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA, 14)-Ons Jabeur (TUN, 7); Iga Swiatek (POL, 1)-Coco Gauff (USA, 6); Alexander Zverev (GER, 22)-Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG). Before 8:15 p.m.: Holger Rune (DEN, 6)-Casper Ruud (NOR, 4).
Favourites: World No. 1 Iga Swiatek quickly dispelled any doubts surrounding her physique after her injury in Rome. On four occasions, she has signed “bagels” and arrives fresh (she benefited from the abandonment of the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko in the round of 16). In a remake of the 2022 French Open final, she will find Coco Gauff for a place in the last four. Unhappy finalist in 2022, Casper Ruud (n°4) has an appointment in the quarter-finals (like last year) with Holger Rune (n°6). The match promises sparks.
Player Worth Watching: Tomas Martin Etcheverry. When he was 10 years old, his parents had asked him to find a name for the dog that had recently arrived in the family. It would be: “Roland-Garros” and, this year, the dog follows on television the exploits of the Argentinian in the Internationals of France. Etcheverry (23; 49th in the world, beaten in the final in Bordeaux by Ugo Humbert just before Roland-Garros) had, before Roland-Garros, won only one Grand Slam match. Etcheverry, a true clay court specialist, who takes over from Schwartzman and Del Potro the last Argentinian quarter-finalists at Roland-Garros, will face Alexander Zverev.
The number: 1. The first quarter-final at Roland-Garros for the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, the Tunisian Ons Jabeur and the Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
The anecdote: On June 7, 2003, Justine Henin became the first Belgian to win a Grand Slam tournament, at Roland-Garros, beating her compatriot Kim Clijsters in the final. The 21-year-old Walloon, who had notably created the feat in the semi-finals by bringing down defending champion Serena Williams, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, faced Flemish Kim Clisters in the final, under the eyes of the King and Queen of Belgium. Clijsters missed his subject, crunched in 68 minutes (6-0, 6-4) by Henin who offered himself the first of his four Roland-Garros and dedicated his coronation to his mother who died eight years earlier.
Expression. Tweener: It became one of the most spectacular shots on the tour. Lobed players managing to unleash, back to the net, a shot between the legs. Guillermo Vilas would have been the first to realize it. A move that Yannick Noah or Roger Federer, in particular, will have helped to make famous and that players have fun performing for the greatest pleasure of spectators, television viewers and broadcasts on social networks.
