A lucky loser and a certain player named Rafa go for Roland Garros history, and the ‘Tower of Tandil’ will try to go where he hasn’t been since 2012: ATPWorldTour.com previews Saturday’s third-round action at Roland Garros.

[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. [27] Richard Gasquet (FRA)
Nadal leads FedEx ATP Head2Head series 15-0

Don’t expect Gasquet, however, to prostrate on the court during the walk-ons. The 31-year-old Frenchman will try to seize – and savour – the moment. He’s playing on Court Philippe-Chatrier against a longtime friend, and has an opportunity to earn one of the biggest wins of his career. Beat Nadal in the third round and Gasquet will have handed the Spaniard his earliest loss at Roland Garros. (Nadal withdrew before his third-round match in 2016.)

For Nadal, if he wins the opening two sets against Gasquet, the Spaniard will have won his past 33 sets in Paris and will have broken his previous longest streak of 32, set in 2007-09. Only Bjorn Borg owns a longer streak at Roland Garros: 41 consecutive sets from 1979-81.

Maximilian Marterer (GER) vs. Jurgen Zopp (EST)
First FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting

And then there was one. Eight lucky losers saw their names in the Roland Garros main draw at the start of the week, including Argentine Marco Trungelliti, who drove from Barcelona to Paris for the opportunity.

But only one has the chance to reach the fourth round. No. 136 Jurgen Zopp of Estonia faces Maximilian Marterer. The 22-year-old German is already in the Top 70 of the ATP Rankings and has a chance to post his best Grand Slam result during his Roland Garros debut by making the Round of 16. The left-hander also reached the third round at the Australian Open in January.

Zopp, however, can win one for all of the lucky losers out there. He can become only the 10^th lucky loser to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam in the Open Era and the first since France’s Stephane Robert at the 2014 Australian Open. Since April 1968, when the Open Era began 50 years ago, only four lucky losers have gone where Zopp is trying to go, but he’ll be in good company if he can make it three in a row. The most recent lucky loser to make the Roland Garros Round of 16: David Goffin, 2012.

[5] Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) vs. [31] Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP)
Del Potro leads FedEx ATP Head2Head series 1-0

Two Frenchmen down, one Spaniard to go? Juan Martin del Potro has played the villain well so far at Roland Garros, beating Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau to make the third round. But the fan favourite Argentine should have the crowd on his side when he meets 31^st seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.

It’s been six years and three wrist surgeries since Del Potro played in the Round of 16 in June 2012. He also hasn’t won three consecutive clay-court matches since that fourth-round run.

Read More: Delpo 1, Reporter 0

To Ramos-Vinolas, the Round of 16 is old hat. The Spaniard has been there the past two years, and he hasn’t dropped a set so far this fortnight in beating Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and #NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud. The left-hander is 6-32 against Top 10 players, including 1-6 of late, according to his FedEx ATP Win/Loss Record. But that one win came just two weeks ago in Rome against American John Isner.

All eyes are on the Parisian terre battue, as the ATP World Tour’s stars slide and glide across the red clay at Roland Garros. But elsewhere, some people’s focus is completely on something else: grass. 

In just more than a week, the players will begin the grass-court swing during which six ATP World Tour events — two at the 500-level and four at the 250-level — lead into Wimbledon, with the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open held directly after the year’s third Grand Slam championship.

The Gerry Weber Open, which will take place from 16 to 24 June 2018 in Halle, Germany, is undergoing final preparations, as the crew works to prepare Gerry Weber Stadion for the wear and tear of the world’s best tennis. Roger Federer will seek his record tenth title, World No. 3 Alexander Zverev will attempt to capture his maiden grass-court trophy and other stars including Dominic Thiem and Miami winner John Isner will look to make their mark.

And while you may not think about it during the tournament, the grass is not simply rolled out like a carpet. 

Instead, forklift trucks transport 400 two-by-one-metre lawn tiles to the site to construct the 800-square-metre Centre Court. Those 800-kilogram tiles, according to the event’s Tournament Director, Ralf Weber, are the key to the tournament. A Lolium mixture helps the surface withstand the brunt of world-class play, with the seed providing a high-load capacity.

“The grass is a deciding factor for the matches at the Gerry Weber Open. Transferring the grass onto the Centre Court is one of our final preparations for the tournament,” said Weber. “The grass has reached an extraordinary standard, which has to be constantly maintained and optimized. That is why we survey our players and have a constant exchange with grass court experts at Wimbledon.”

So while the best players in the world continue to slide around on the red dirt, the grass courts are being set up for them now.

Damir Dzumhur was a class act, as always, on the court against Alexander Zverev on Friday at Roland Garros. His hospitality also extended to the ball kids who worked the third-round match on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

After Zverev hit a forehand long, Dzumhur hit a forehand high into the air. The ball was set to land about midcourt on the same side of the net as the Bosnian, who jogged to catch it.

But a ball boy, from the side of the court, sprinted to the same spot. Collision. Dzumhur, a 26-year-old ATP World Tour professional, was left standing. But the ball boy lay on the red dirt.

Talk about a collision course. ?@DzumhurDamir collides with ball boy during match. #RG18 pic.twitter.com/M5xHLxMlMK

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 1, 2018

Dzumhur consoled the ball boy, and eventually, however, the ball boy walked away on his own. Dzumhur, feeling bad about the accident, left him with a hug and a kiss.

UPDATE: He’s okay! pic.twitter.com/SQXsGkr2yD

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 1, 2018

Alexander Zverev played a dangerous game on Friday, when he came back from the brink of defeat in the fourth set — and saved one match point at 4-5 in the decider — against Damir Dzumhur at Roland Garros for the 150th match win of his career (150-78).

Having led by a set and 3-1, the second-seeded German found himself staring down the barrel with Dzumhur serving for the match at 6-5 in the fourth set and later on serve at 4-5, 30/40 in the fifth set. But Dzumhur, the No. 26 seed from Bosnia and Herzegovina, blinked and Zverev fought back to complete a 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 win in just under four hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Zverev, the winner of 19 of his past 21 clay-court matches, also came through a tense five-set victory over Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic in the Roland Garros second round. He will now recharge and prepare to face French No. 15 seed Lucas Pouille or Karen Khachanov of Russia in the fourth round, which equals his best Grand Slam championship performance (2017 Wimbledon).

Should Zverev’s older brother, Mischa Zverev, beat No. 6 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa on Saturday, they would become the third pair of brothers to reach the fourth round at the same major championship in the Open Era (since April 1968) after Sandy Mayer and Gene Mayer at 1979 Wimbledon and Emilio Sanchez and Javier Sanchez at the 1991 US Open.

The 21-year-old Zverev captured ATP World Tour titles at the BMW Open by FWU (d. Kohlschreiber) and the Mutua Madrid Open (d. Thiem), in addition to a runner-up finish at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (l. to Nadal). He has a 33-8 record on the season and leads the ATP Race To London, for one of eight spots at the Nitto ATP Finals in November, at The O2 in London.

So solid on serve was Zverev that through his first five service games, he’d only lost four points and as he took a 3-1 lead in the second set, with 44 minutes on the match clock, Dzumhur had barely challenged the smooth, powerful game of the German. Yet, in a 19-minute passage of play, Zverev lost focus on serve and Dzumhur found his rhythm to win five straight games.

Dzumhur continued to play closer to the baseline and bided his time. He regrouped after Zverev recovered from 0/40 at 3-3, by winning eight of the next nine points for a 5-4 advantage. He clinched the set, having saved two break points.

The 26-year-old took a 4-2 lead in the fourth set, and the prospect of a big upset was on the cards. Zverev kept fighting, tightened up his ball-striking and moved into the net to recover to 5-5. But at 5-6, the pressure began to tell. Zverev double-faulted on Dzumhur’s second break point and as the Bosnian went to his courtside chair, he contemplated serving for the biggest win of his career.

Dzumhur blinked, dropping his serve to love and never recovered in the tie-break, which saw Zverev win five of the first six points. Zverev carried the momentum into the decider, breaking in the first game, and after a brief rally from Dzumhur, the 21-year-old German moved into a 4-2 lead.

The drama hadn’t ended. Dzumhur dug deep and came within one point of winning four straight games. Zverev hung tough, in three lengthy games, and broke for a 6-5 lead prior to holding to 30 for a memorable win.

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