Corné qualified, Simon, Jeanjean and Gaston prolong the pleasure

Alizé Cornet will have the honors Thursday, May 26 of the night session on the Central court of Roland-Garros, where she will succeed Caroline Garcia and Gilles Simon, while Stefanos Tsitsipas and Iga Swiatek will host the fifth day on the Suzanne-Lenglen court.

The two other French people competing today in this second round won: Hugo Gaston against the Argentinian Pablo Cachin, and Léolia Jeanjean, who opened the day by offering herself the world number 8 Karolina Pliskova.

• 11:06 p.m .: Alizé Cornet qualified for the 3rd round

Alizé Cornet, 40th in the world, qualified for the 3rd round of Roland-Garros on Thursday by defeating the 2017 champion, the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (13th), 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 in 1h41 for the first match of the women’s draw in the night session of the 2022 edition.

« From the first point you carried me, until the last. You did not let me go and I needed it », launched the Frenchwoman to the public. « At 32, I still hold the road physically and it’s nice because against Jelena you have to be on your feet, » she added.

However, she seemed to feel pain on the inside and top of her left thigh late in the game. But a Marseillaise intoned by the public who saw her in pain gave her the strength to go to the end. « In the second set, I felt without a solution, but it was balanced in the third. I tried to be as stable as possible, in the head too and that, at home, is not won. So I I’m very proud, » she said.

She will face China’s Qinwen Zheng (74th) in the next round, who dismissed 2018 winner Simona Halep (19th) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday. Cornet reached the first Grand Slam quarter-final of her career at the Australian Open last January.

• 10:08 p.m .: Tsitsipas comes out of another extended match

Stefanos Tsitsipas was again pushed into an extended match. The world No. 4 and outgoing finalist only extricated himself in more than four hours and four sets 6-3, 7-6 (10/8), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (9 /7) from the clutches of Czech qualifier Zdenek Kolar (134th).

There were « only » four sets but the match stretched for 4 h 05 min. And it could have been even worse for Tsitsipas since Kolar got four balls to come back to two sets everywhere in the last decisive game (6-2) before yielding. « He drove me crazy, » said Tsitsipas.

For a place in the round of 16, the Greek will face the Swede Mikael Ymer.

• 7:39 p.m .: Gilles Simon wins his 500th victory

Gilles Simon, 158th in the world, qualified for the 3rd round of his 17th and last Roland-Garros before retiring at the end of the year, dominating the American Steve Johnson (92nd) 7-5, 6 -1, 7-6 (8/6), thus signing his 500th victory on the circuit.

At 37, Simon therefore prolongs the pleasure at Roland-Garros where the public at the Philippe-Chatrier court once again carried him. He will have to beat the Croatian Marin Cilic (23rd) on Saturday to reach the round of 16 and thus equal his best performance on Parisian clay.

• 6:23 p.m .: Simona Halep loses, another favorite by the wayside

Simona Halep, 19th in the world and former winner of Roland-Garros in 2018, was eliminated in the second round of the Parisian Grand Slam, beaten by the Chinese Zheng Qinwen (74th), 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

From the middle of the meeting, the Romanian did not seem to be at her best physically. Several times she appeared out of breath, even having to take a minute to squat with her forehead resting on her racquet several times. She ended up calling the doctor twice during the 3rd set, then resuming the game. But despite the encouragement from the public, she failed to regain the upper hand, leaving Zheng to chain the games.

Halep had however easily won the first set, before committing more faults (15 against 4 in the first set), giving up her service to the Chinese three times in the 2nd set. And to be only a shadow of itself in the third, only managing to take one game out of the last 11 of the game. Already in the first round, Halep, now trained by Serena Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, seemed in difficulty for a set against the lucky German loser Nastasja Schunk (165th), before winning.

Zheng, 19, is taking part in her very first Roland-Garros and thus wins the best victory of her career, her first over a member of the top 20. In the third round, she will face the winner of the evening match against Jelena Ostapenko (13th), who won in 2017 Porte d’Auteuil, to the French Alizé Cornet (40th).

• 5:41 p.m .: Thirtieth victory in a row for Iga Swiatek

Fifty-four minutes in the first round, 61 in the second: world No. 1 Iga Swiatek kept up the pace to qualify for the third round of Roland-Garros 6-0, 6-2 at the expense of American Alison Riske ( 36th).

His series of matches won consecutively, from Doha in February to Paris, now stretches to thirty. She thus becomes the fourth player since the beginning of the century to achieve a series of at least thirty victories, after the Williams sisters and Justine Henin.

• 4:50 p.m .: Caroline Garcia stopped by Madison Keys

Like last year, Caroline Garcia stops in the second round. The French was beaten by the American Madison Keys. In a match without rhythm, marked by short rallies, she failed to take the advantage over the more opportunistic No. 22 seed.

Madison Keys will face Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina for a spot in the round of 16.

• 4:15 p.m .: Hugo Gaston continues

Hugo Gaston, eighth-finalist at Roland-Garros two years ago, qualified without wasting time for the third round at the expense of the Argentinian Pedro Cachin (153rd) 6-4, 6-2, 6 -4 in just over two hours.

In the first round, Gaston (74th, 21) defeated world No. 20 Alex de Minaur in the fifth set super tie-break after a long four-hour fight. Again on the Suzanne-Lenglen court, the small Toulouse left-hander (1.73 m) this time quickly confused his South American opponent with his variations and his signature shot, the drop shot. He managed twenty.

Cachin was only dangerous for the first four games, until Gaston’s first break to take a 3-2 lead. After less than 70 minutes of the match, the Frenchman was already leading two sets to 0, not without having gratified the enthusiastic public with one of his inspirations, with this winning point by bypassing the net at the end of the first set.

Now awaits a test of another level in the next round, with the young Dane Holger Rune, 40th in the world at 19, who fell in the first round of world No. 15 Denis Shapovalov (6-3, 6-1, 7- 6). And become the youngest player since Rafael Nadal to reach the third round of Roland-Garros without losing a set since … Rafael Nadal in 2005.

• 3:15 p.m .: Daniil Medvedev continues his journey

World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev did not have to force too much to climb to the 3rd round of Roland-Garros at the expense of Serbian Laslo Djere (56th) whom he beat (6-3, 6-4, 6- 3) in 2:35. The task is likely to be more complicated in the next round for the 26-year-old Russian who has little taste for clay and who will face another Serb, Miomir Kecmanovic (31st), who beat Alexander Bublik on Thursday.

After winning the first two sets, Medvedev was hooked in the third by an opponent who managed a lot of winning points (39 in total). But the Serb also committed many unforced errors (68) which allowed the Russian to control the game.

With a successful break entering the third set and relying on an efficient service (7 aces in total including 3 in the third set), Medvedev was never really in danger. He even concluded on Djere’s serve by taking advantage of a double fault then a direct fault from his opponent.

« I was not confident in this third set because I only had a break in advance and on clay, a break is nothing », commented the Russian happy to have come out of a « difficult game ».

• 2 p.m.: Paula Badosa qualified in pain

The Spaniard Paula Badosa, seeded n°3, fought for more than two and a quarter hours and made up for a late break in the third set to dismiss the Slovenian Kaja Juvan (68^and) (7-5, 3-6, 6-2).

• 12:23 p.m .: the feat of Léolia Jeanjean, Karolina Pliskova’s faller

Leolia Jeanjean, 227^and world, continues her fine career and offers herself the feat of eliminating the Czech Karolina Pliskova, 8^and World Cup (6-2, 6-2), earning their ticket to the third round. Recipient of a « wild card », the French, ex-hope of tricolor tennis, participates at 26 years in her first Grand Slam.