What to watch on Day 5 of Roland-Garros?

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday, May 26, 2022

Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek will look to extend his winning streak to 30 on Thursday in Paris.

Image source: Getty

The 5th day of Roland Garros will see the completion of the second round. Here’s what we’ll be watching in Paris.

Your complete day 5 program

Tennis Express

Iga goes for 30

Poland Iga Swiatek will look to extend her winning streak to 30 on Thursday when she takes on American Alison Riske on the Suzanne Lenglen court. The 20-year-old world No. 1 has had a remarkable run overall, and here in Paris she started her tournament with a 6-2, 6-0 thrashing of Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko. That’s 14 bagels in 2022 for Swiatek. She doesn’t just win games, she owns them.

Swiatek could end up tied for the longest WTA winning streak of this century if she wins the title – only Venus Williams (35), Serena Williams (34) and Justine Henin (32) have done better since 2000.

Meanwhile, Riske is by no means a clay expert. But she is trying to register back-to-back wins on the surface for the third time in her career.

Medvedev aims for third round

Daniel Medvedev have played just two games since returning from hernia surgery, but Russia look fit and are playing well in Paris. He said how happy he was to have managed to recover from his surgery following his first-round win in Paris.

“Right from the start, we made a good plan with my team, with my team of doctors and my team of physios, to try to get me back on track as quickly as possible,” Medvedev said. “So I started after four weeks, which can take up to six weeks I’ve heard, on average. I’ve never had any pain, so we’re taking it little by little, first day 30 minutes then 45.

I went to Geneva to see how my body is doing. I felt good physically. I managed to put in some really solid hours of training here before Roland Garros. I feel 100% ready physically, so thank you to my team.

Medvedev takes on Serbian Laslo Djere, a solid and physical clay player who could push the No.2 seed – it will be telling to see how he reacts if that happens. Djere beat Medvedev in their only meeting, on clay in 2017 in Budapest.

Young guns in action

Nineteen-year-old Holger Rune, fresh off his first Grand Slam victory, will face Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen on Court 12. Rune had a great season on clay, winning the title in Munich to move up to No. 40 in the world. He’s been under the radar, probably because of Carlos Alcaraz’s play, but won’t be for long.

China’s Zheng Qinwen, also 19, takes on Simona Halep on Court Simonne-Mathieu, while Jannik Sinner, 20, one of the favorites to come out of the bottom half of the men’s draw, heads to court n °7 to face Roberto Carballes Baena.

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