Play continued late into the night as the schedule got back on track with the completion of round 3 at the French Open on Thursday, when there were wins for Zheng Qinwen and Emma Navarro, but Daria Kasatkina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Linda Noskova joined the early exodus of seeds earlier in the day.
At 9.30 pm, there were still 15 courts with live matches on them, including singles and doubles, as yet more drama unfolded at Roland Garros under the lights, in a good move by the French tennis federation, who installed floodlights on every court at Roland Garros in 2021.
Peyton Stearns and Daria Kasatkina were in the early stages on Court 2, while Zheng and Tamara Korpatsch got underway on Court 8, and, over on Court 12, Noskova was trailing Irina-Camelia Begu by a set.
China’s Zheng, the No 7 seed, efficiently eliminated German Korpatsch, 6-2 6-2, to move into the Last 32, where she will face Elina Avanesyan from Russia, who blitzed her compatriot Anna Blinkova, 6-3 6-0, earlier in the day.
The 21-year-old Chinese had defeated wild-card Alizé Cornet, 6-2 6-1, on Tuesday, sending the 34-year-old Frenchwoman into retirement.
Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu upset No 27 seed Linda Noskova from the Czech Republic, 6-4 6-2, to reach the 3rd round of Roland-Garros in Paris.
33-year-old Begu, ranked No 127, will play Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva next. Irina-Camelia Begu upset No 27 seed Linda Noskova to reach the 3rd round of Roland-Garros in Paris.
Navarro, the 22nd seed, ended the run of 2017 Roland Garros finalist Sara Errani, who had to qualify this year, beating the Italian 6-2 7-5 on Court 3 to set up a 3rd-round contest with Madison Keys, seeded 14.
The 23-year-old American may not be a household name in sport yet, but her net worth is said to be more than that of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic put together, thanks to her billionaire father, investment mogul Ben.
Another American also made waves, unseeded Peyton Stearns, who upset No 10 seed Daria Kasatkina, 7-5 6-2, on Court 2.
17-year-old Mirra Andreeva defeated 2-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka from Belarus, 6-3 3-6 7-5, in a long and absorbing battle that ended at 1 am on Friday morning.
Bianca Andreescu, who won her second consecutive match in her first event back since a long injury, was also great viewing as the Canadian upset Anna Kalinskaya from Russia, 1-6 7-5 6-3.
