Sabalenka Osaka is just the 5th women's match to get the night session on Chatrier since this session was introduced at RG in 2021. The women are now just one match short of catching Holger Rune, who has played in 6 night session matches here. #RolandGarros
If Landaluce beats Medvedev, he will become just the 4th lucky loser to reach a masters SF.
- Last done by Struff (2023 Madrid F).
- Previous occasion was Pouille (2016 Rome SF)
Only other player to achieve this was Thomas Johansson (2004 Toronto SF), Medvedev's coach.
@mattracquet From a quick scan Moutet made ~80% and won just over 70% last year. 90% came from the assumption that they'd be made at a similar rate to 2nd serves, but I guess the risk profile/disguise of underarm drops it. Still, you'd think most players would take those numbers
@mattracquet True. But with the underarm you'd expect to make 90%+? at which point winning 2/3rds of the points would be a good return. That feels very doable against anyone that stands deep. Even just to have in the locker so that opp is less inclined to stand in their ideal return position
@Gill_Gross Would the increase in pre-tournament withdrawals not be explained by the rules that came in ~2017 (I think) that meant players would still get paid first round prize money if they turned up to the tournament and withdrew?
Sinner beats Alcaraz in straight sets, but a worrying trend continues. That's now 7 of the last 8 matches against Alcaraz (ignoring Cinci retirement) he has made less 1st serves than his 10 match moving average. When it mattered most though he didn't miss - 6/6 in the tiebreak.
With Rybakina beating Sabalenka yesterday, if Djokovic beats Alcaraz this will be the first grand slam in the open era where the men's and women's champions have both beaten the top 2 seeds en route. #AusOpen
If Djokovic beats Alcaraz today, he would become just the 9th man to beat the top 2 seeds at a grand slam in the open era. Only one man has done this in the last 30 years (Stan Wawrinka) and he did it twice! #AusOpen
Sabalenka [1] vs Rybakina [5] is the 54th meeting between women's [1] and [5] seeds at a slam in the open era (2nd most common matchup in QF/SF/F after 1 vs 2). The [5] seeds have a 6-47 losing record in these meetings (1-8 in finals, 3-12 in semis, 2-27 in quarters) #AusOpen