Before each day of play at Roland Garros, we'll preview and predict three must-see matches.
It may be the biggest day of the French tennis season: This match comes right after one featuring Alizé Cornet, and right before one featuring Gael Monfils, all on Chatrier. While it’s Monfils who drew the attention and the headlines last week, Tsonga has been the sharper and more efficient of the two so far—he hasn’t dropped a set in Paris. Now he’ll take a big step up in quality. Berdych is 7-2 against Tsonga, he won their last two matches in straight sets, and he beat him in routine fashion earlier this month in Madrid. But that Jo is not the same Jo who comes to Roland Garros each year. If he’s going to beat Berdych, it’s going to be here. But he's probably not going to beat Berdych. Winner: Berdych
Here’s the one we’ve been waiting for. Federer is 8-4 against Monfils, and in their three previous meetings at Roland Garros, he’s dropped just one set. And while Monfils has provided the home folks with plenty of drama in his first three rounds, slogging through 14 sets in six days probably isn’t the ideal way to prepare for a match against Federer. But if he's feeling fresh, Monfils has more than a fighting chance. In their last three matches, he has won two of them, both on clay, in straight sets, and he had match points in the third, at the U.S. Open last fall. If you wonder sometimes why Federer still enjoys the tour after all these years, well, wouldn’t you love to be part of a day like this one? Winner: Monfils
Sharapova's last must-see showdown, against Sam Stosur in the third round, turned out to be a world-class dud. Could this one make up for it? Possibly. Maria is 4-1 against Safarova, but their last three matches, all of them won by the Russian, have gone the distance. In fact, their last meeting, on clay in Stuttgart in 2014, was a three-tiebreaker throwdown. Neither woman has dropped a set so far in Paris. Safarova, who got hot enough to reach the semis at Wimbledon last year, is capable of the upset, but Sharapova, who hasn’t lost before the semis in Paris since 2010, is the percentage pick. Winner: Sharapova
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