In one of the most shocking days at a Slam in recent memory, Day 5 at the French Open this year brought a host of upsets, five-set matches, and intriguing storylines, as the heat in Paris took out the prohibitive favourite of the tournament. As always, we break down all the action for you in this recap, so you can catch up on what happened at the French Open today without missing a beat.
French Open Men’s Day 5 Recap
Biggest Upsets of the Round
It was a day of upsets in Paris, as both the top-ranked American Ben Shelton and former French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas crashed out of the tournament. Luciano Darderi also fell in a five-set match, as the day saw a total of five seeded players exit the tournament.
But none of the other four exits comes close to the impact that World No. 1 and heavy favourite Jannik Sinner suffering one of the great upsets in tennis history will have on the tournament. One game away from completing a comfortable straight-sets victory, the Italian’s body locked up due to cramps, as he could only muster two games in the next twenty played, falling to Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who, to his credit, not only managed the conditions better but also played a very solid match once he realised how affected Sinner was.
Performance of the Round
This could easily again be Cerundolo (Juan Manuel, not Francisco!), but to change things up, let’s focus on the other solid performances that Day 5 had to offer. Matteo Berrettini played a strong match, as he quietly flies under the radar into the third round. Felix Auger-Aliassime also played one of his better matches on clay this year after going down a set early, with the Canadian now the only top-10-ranked player remaining on this side of the draw.
But the performance of the day goes to Belgian Raphael Collignon, who took out Ben Shelton without much worry, not even getting broken once throughout the match. And yes, the American, despite being highly ranked and winning the title in Munich this year, had been on a poor run of form, but he has historically shown the ability to raise his level at the Majors. Coupled with the fact that this was Collignon’s first-ever top-30 victory on clay, and the ease with which he did it, it becomes worthy of being labelled the performance of the day.
Match of the Day
Out of a total of 15 matches played, a remarkable seven of them went to a fifth set, as the day was filled with battles of attrition. Youngster Moise Kouame kept his run in Paris going, winning an almost five-hour-long encounter in a thrilling fifth set. A pair of Americans, Brandon Nakashima and Learner Tien, also secured solid wins on the red clay, as they continue showing improvement on the surface.
But the match of the day was played by another American, as Frances Tiafoe overcame Hubert Hurkacz in a five-set battle that featured over 350 points in total. The match had it all: tiebreaks, exciting points, stretches largely dominated by serve, which is uncharacteristic of clay, but also periods where the baseline rallies were entertaining to watch. In the end, in a match that had three tiebreaks, Tiafoe was the player who kept his composure, breaking for the match and securing a third-round appearance at this year’s French Open.
Biggest Talking Point
When an upset of historic proportions happens, it is hard to look past it, as the biggest talking point of not only the men’s draw at the French Open, but tennis in general today, was how Jannik Sinner fell victim to the hot conditions once again. The Italian twice served for the match, but could not even manage to win a point on serve in those two games, as he could never really recover his legs and serve after the issue, despite taking an off-court medical timeout and a ten-minute toilet break.
His loss opens up this half of the draw entirely, as only six seeded players remain, out of which only one is inside the top 10. It will be interesting to see which of these players, with no clear favourite remaining, takes the opportunity and makes a Slam final here, as it will likely be one of the rare occasions where neither Carlos Alcaraz nor Jannik Sinner remains in the draw at one of the four biggest tournaments in the world.
The other side of the draw will also no doubt be far more motivated today, with Sinner out, with players like Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev, who have been chasing their first Slam for many years now, and Novak Djokovic, who is set to take on Joao Fonseca tomorrow, all suddenly having a clearer path to the title. And for the first time in a long time, that path will not feature Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner standing in the way, as had been the case for the previous nine Majors.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images
