French Open 2018: Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev headline Day 4 play
With the first round having been completed, except for a few matches due to rain, the focus is on Round 2 from Wednesday, May 30 at the French Open 2018 in Paris. The bottom half will play today and the biggest stars to watch on the men’s side are the 2016 champion Novak Djokovic and the second seed Alexander Zverev.
Djokovic, seeded at a lowly 20th this time, will face Jaume Munar of Spain for a berth in the Round of 32. The 21-year-old outlasted former French Open runner-up David Ferrer in five sets in the previous round, but the task is certainly uphill with the former World No. 1 being his next opponent.
The Serb is still far from his best after recovering from an elbow surgery but he is growing in confidence with each outing, as validated by his semi-final performance against Rafael Nadal in Rome.
Zverev has won 31 matches this year -- the highest number notched up so far on the ATP Tour. With titles at Munich and Madrid and a runner-up show at Rome, the German has established himself as one of the contenders to Nadal’s throne.
His Slam record, however, pales in comparison to this success at the ATP Masters 1000 level. But this could be the tournament that the 21-year-old will change that.
He dropped only four games in bludgeoning Ricardas Berankis in the first round and will look to bring forth that same belief when he faces Dusan Lajovic of Serbia.
Halep begins campaign; Wozniacki, Kvitova in action
On the women’s side, the top seed and World No. 1 Simona Halep will hope to get her campaign going after a fruitless wait on Tuesday. This has been the Slam where the Romanian has had her best performance, having reached the final twice.
12 months after enduring a bitter defeat to Jelena Ostapenko, Halep will return to Court Philippe-Chatrier for another shot at a maiden Major title. She also has the pressure of keeping her numero uno ranking intact, as anything less than a semi-final will see her relinquishing it.
She kicks off her challenge against Alison Riske of the USA.
The second seed and reigning Australian Open champion, Caroline Wozniacki will also be in action on Day 4. The Dane had a tough first set and then blitzed through the second in her 7-6(2), 6-1 win over Danielle Collins in her opener.
Two-time Wimbledon winner and the most in-form WTA player of 2018, Petra Kvitova too will seek a Round 3 berth on Wednesday when she takes on Lara Arruabarrena. The Czech, a four-time titlist this year, had to battle hard for more than two hours to grind out a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over Veronica Cepede Royg in the first round.
Here is the Day 4 schedule on the three main courts:
Court Philippe CHATRIER
Play starts at 11am local time/2.30pm IST
Simona HALEP (ROU) [1] v Alison RISKE (USA)
Kei NISHIKORI (JPN) [19] v Benoit PAIRE (FRA)
Georgina GARCIA PEREZ (ESP) v Caroline WOZNIACKI (DEN) [2]
Lucas POUILLE (FRA)[15] v Cameron NORRIE (GBR)
Court Suzanne LENGLEN
Play starts at 11am local time/2.30pm IST
Viktoria KUZMOVA (SVK) v Elina SVITOLINA (UKR)[4]
Jaume MUNAR (ESP) v Novak DJOKOVIC (SRB) [20]
David GOFFIN (BEL)[8] v Corentin MOUTET (FRA)
Alizé CORNET (FRA)[32] v Pauline PARMENTIER (FRA)
Court 1
Play starts at 11am local time/2.30pm IST
Petra KVITOVA (CZE) [8] v Lara ARRUABARRENA (ESP)
Dusan LAJOVIC (SRB) v Alexander ZVEREV (GER) [2]
Martin KLIZAN (SVK) v Gael MONFILS (FRA)[32]
Daria KASATKINA (RUS) [14] v Kirsten FLIPKENS (BEL)
You can find the full schedule here.