Top seeds trailing Lopez/Lopez
Home favourites Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are three games away from being upset by Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez at Roland Garros on Tuesday. The top-seeded Frenchmen trailed 6-7(7) 0-3 before rain interrupted play. If the pair can come back to win the match, Mahut will become the new No. 1 player in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, replacing Marcelo Melo.
Herbert/Mahut are the hottest doubles team of 2016, sweeping the first three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events of the season (Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo). Herbert has never reached the quarter-finals in Roland Garros, while Mahut was a finalist in 2013 (partnering Llodra).
Defending champion Ivan Dodig and Melo teamed up to reach the quarter-finals, downing Chris Guccione and Andre Sa 6-3, 6-2. The third seeds stuck eight aces and broke Guccione/Sa three times on as many opportunities.
Also in action are Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who led 4-3 against Marcin Matkowski and Leander Paes before play was interrupted.
Fourth-round match deadlocked on Court 2
The fourth-round match opposing Dominic Thiem, seeded No. 13, and unseeded Marcel Granollers was interrupted by rain tied 6-2, 6-7(2) at Roland Garros on Tuesday. Both players are aiming to reach their first Roland Garros quarter-final.
Spain’s Granollers was well-rested entering the match, having not hit a ball in match conditions since the second round. Last Thursday, he saw off Nicolas Mahut before moving into the fourth round after Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal due to a wrist injury. Thiem took advantage of his opponent’s five-day layoff, racing to a 4-1 lead before rain stopped play for a first time with the Austrian serving for the set at 5-2. After a two-hour interruption, Thiem secured the opening set on his fifth attempt.
The players exchanged breaks at the start of the second set, but the wily Granollers, who had yet to beat Thiem in three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, found his range. Rushing the net at strategic moments, the 2014 doubles finalist won a one-sided tie-break before inclement weather stopped the match again.
The winner of the match will face Ernests Gulbis, a semi-finalist two years ago, or 12th seed David Goffin in the quarter-finals. Gulbis, No. 80 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, made a quick start and led 3-0 before rain interrupted play. On the eve of the tournament, he parted ways with coach Gunther Bresnik, who currently works with Thiem.
| Specsavers County Championship Division Two, New Road |
| Worcestershire v Gloucestershire, day three |
| Worcestershire 439 & 151-5: Mitchell 55, Kervezee 39; Norwell 3-28 |
| Gloucestershire 364-6 dec: Van Buuren 172*, Miles 60*, Roderick 60 |
| Worcestershire lead by 226 runs |
| Worcestershire 7 pts, Gloucestershire 7 pts |
| Match scorecard |
Three Liam Norwell wickets ignited Gloucestershire’s chances of a final-day push for victory at Worcester.
The visiting seamer took 3-28, bowling first-innings centurion Tom Kohler-Cadmore, as the hosts stumbled to 151-5 in their second innings to lead by 226.
Rain curtailed play at 16:40 BST, but all three results are still possible.
Earlier, Graeme van Buuren carried his overnight 104 to 172 not out, in tandem with Craig Miles (60 not out), as the visitors declared on 364-6.
Gloucestershire caused a surprise by pulling out at lunch still 75 runs behind after the unbroken 134-run stand between Van Buuren and Miles.
Worcestershire captain Daryl Mitchell told BBC Hereford & Worcester:
“The game has opened up with them declaring. It was a good move. Hopefully that will create something exciting.
“We are all sick of boring draws, so let’s hope we have got a game of cricket on.
“The closer they got to our total, it would have made it more difficult to play a proper game. We’ve got to start trying to win and they are in the same boat.”
Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson:
“We’ve got five wickets down and if we can get a couple of early wickets, we will put the pressure back on them.
“Was the declaration on the spur of the moment? We had to see how we batted. And Graeme van Buuren and Craig Miles put us in a position where we could make that decision.
“The partnership they put on actually put us into a position where we could dictate things.”
Two rain delays keep Djokovic and Bautista Agut waiting in Paris
Top seed and three-time former finalist Novak Djokovic leads No. 14 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-4, 4-1 on Tuesday, when rained stopped play at Roland Garros. Play was officially cancelled for the day at 5:50 p.m. local time.
Djokovic is bidding to reach the last eight at a Grand Slam championships for the 28th successive time, while Bautista Agut is looking to reach his first quarter-final in his 15th major appearance.
Play had been originally set to begin at 11 a.m. local time, but it did not start until 12:10 p.m. at Stade Roland Garros, in south-west Paris.
After an early exchange of service breaks, Bautista Agut took a 4-2 lead by striking cleanly down the lines. Although Djokovic broke back for 3-4, Bautista Agut responded to win two games in a row and wrap-up the 37-minute opener. Djokovic had previously won the first set in 20 straight Grand Slam championships matches and 37 of 38 Grand Slam matches since 2014.
Heavy rain returned at 12:46 p.m., which resulted in a lengthy delay. In spite of light rain, play resumed at 3:28 p.m. with fans under umbrellas.
Djokovic returned to Court Philippe Chatrier, adopting a new game plan: playing safe down the middle and striking through the ball. Bautista Agut came under pressure on serve, but managed to save five break points in his first two service games. With Djokovic leading 3-2, there followed five straight breaks of serve. Much to his relief, Djokovic converted his second set point opportunity.
By now, neither player trusted their footing on the crushed brick. But play continued into the third set, with Djokovic saving one break point in the first game. The World No. 1 then broke Bautista Agut in the fourth game en route to a 4-1 lead, before organisers stopped at 4:51 p.m. local time.
Bautista Agut is 0-4 against players at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and 5-27 versus Top 10 stars overall.
There was no play due to rain on Monday, which represented the first washout since 30 May 2000.
| French Open |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 22 May to 5 June |
| Coverage: Live radio and text commentary on selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, the BBC Sport website and app. |
World number one Novak Djokovic lost the first set to Roberto Bautista Agut before rain returned to again delay play at the French Open.
Spain’s Bautista Agut, the 14th seed, led Serb Djokovic 6-3 when their fourth-round match was halted in Paris.
Serena Williams is set to play Elina Svitolina after that match, before Britain’s Andy Murray faces Richard Gasquet in the first quarter-final.
Monday saw the first washout at Roland Garros since 2000.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has launched the Go Hit It campaign to get more people into tennis.
The campaign targets adults aged 18 to 34 and hopes to raise awareness of the sport earlier in the year.
“The Davis Cup victory at the end of last year really captivated the British audience,” says Alex Mawer, the LTA’s marketing director.
“We want to continue on this high and encourage people across the country to get involved in tennis, earlier in the season and more regularly.
“Through ‘Go Hit It’ we expect to kick-start the summer tennis season with more people thinking about tennis, more people choosing tennis and more people playing tennis.”
READ MORE: Find out how you can get into tennis with our special guide.