Take a look at Wednesday’s schedule at Roland Garros and one thing immediately jumps off the page. Past champions Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are in action, but who are their opponents?

Dig a little deeper and the same question could be asked of half the Top 10 seeds, including Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Karen Khachanov. While you might not be familiar with the players standing on the other side of the net, they have certainly been garnering plenty of attention on the ATP Challenger Tour this year.

In fact, the five opponents have one thing in common: they all won their first Grand Slam matches this week. With Yannick Maden battling Nadal, Oscar Otte clashing with Federer, Mikael Ymer facing Zverev, Hugo Dellien dueling with Tsitsipas and Gregoire Barrere meeting Khachanov, the stars of the Challenger circuit will have their say on one of the game’s biggest stages.

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For players competing at the Challenger level, these moments are their big opportunity to showcase their talents in front of a global audience. Maden, Otte, Dellien, Ymer and Barrere have all been successfully plotting their ascent towards the Top 100 and beyond this year. And this is another important step in the process.

Challenger Stars In Paris

When Barrere first entered Roland Garros as a main draw competitor, it was 2016. The Frenchman was thrust into the spotlight on Court One against 12th seed David Goffin. It was the first tour-level match of his career, and he is the first to admit that it did not go according to plan.

Flash forward three years and the 25-year-old is now armed with a stronger all-around game and a firmer belief in his abilities. The rest of the tour is beginning to take notice. The Frenchman’s career trajectory has taken a circuitous route, as the once-thriving Top 200 prospect endured a slip to No. 624 in the ATP Rankings just last year.

In search of his game and much-needed confidence, everything changed when he stepped onto the home hard courts of Lille as a qualifier and emerged as an ATP Challenger Tour champion for the first time. One year later and Barrere is playing the best tennis of his career and soaring towards a Top 100 breakthrough.

On Tuesday, the Charenton-le-Pont native – located just 20 minutes from Roland Garros – finally celebrated his moment in the spotlight at his home Grand Slam, ousting Matthew Ebden 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 for his first major victory. For Barrere, it wasn’t just an ordinary win on Court 14, rather the culmination of a year of hard work on the Challenger circuit.

One of the top performers on the tour in 2019, Barrere is tied for fifth among win percentage leaders with a 21-7 record (.750). A pair of titles in nearby Quimper and Lille have seen him surge to a career-high of No. 117, and he is now on the precipice of climbing even higher. Victory over 10th seed Khachanov on Thursday would assure him of that.

“I still have 10 years ahead of me, so I take it step by step,” said Barrere. “I would like to get into the Top 100 very soon. That’s the objective of the season. Of course, if I enter the Top 100 in two weeks, in two months, that’s not my objective. I just try to progress on a daily basis to put everything together and then the ranking has to follow.”

Barrere is not the only player to celebrate his first Grand Slam victory this week. In fact, a staggering 12 competitors have secured the milestone with an opening-round triumph at Roland Garros. That’s the most at the same slam since 2001 in Paris. While some have already established themselves on the ATP Tour this year, including two-time champ Cristian Garin, Cordoba winner Juan Ignacio Londero and Indian Wells quarter-finalist Miomir Kecmanovic, this marks a potentially career-changing achievement for the nine others.

Bolivia’s Dellien Quit Tennis Three Years Ago; Now He Faces Tsitsipas In Paris

Barrere, Dellien, Maden, Otte, Ymer, Elliot Benchetrit, Salvatore Caruso, Lloyd Harris and Antoine Hoang all tasted victory for the first time on the Grand Slam stage. But these moments don’t appear out of thin air. For many, like Barrere, they have been building to this on the Challenger circuit.

Ymer is also Top 5 in win percentage this year, and in addition to lifting his maiden trophy in Noumea, the #NextGenATP Swede reached a pair of clay-court finals last month in Murcia and Bordeaux. Maden and Otte have also reached multiple finals this year, while Dellien claimed his fourth title on the clay of Santiago, Chile. And Caruso earned arguably the biggest scalp of the year with a comeback win over World No. 21 David Goffin in Phoenix.

In February, Antoine Hoang earned his first ATP Tour match win in Montpellier, the week after reaching his third Challenger final at the presitigious Open de Rennes. Now inside the Top 150 and climbing, he believes that Tuesday’s four-set victory over Damir Dzumhur is the culmination of everything he’s been fighting for.

“I did everything to have this result,” Hoang said. “It’s a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. I’ve been expecting this for a long time. I’ve been practising for this result. I’m relieved. But the show must go on, and I hope that it will go as long as possible. The aim is to be part of the Top 100 by the end of the year.”

Hoang will look to the home crowd for more support when he faces 23rd-seed Fernando Verdasco on Thursday.

As you’re watching the action unfold in the coming days, keep an eye out for these emerging talents. There’s a strong chance you’ll be seeing more of them in the near future.

No light? No problem for Gael Monfils.

The No. 14 seed beat Japanese Taro Daniel and the Parisian sunset on Tuesday at Roland Garros, advancing to the second round at his home Grand Slam for the 12th time with a 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 victory.

When Monfils and Daniel walked on Court Philippe-Chatrier just short of 8 p.m. local time, it appeared they would need to resume play on Wednesday. But Monfils sped through the opening-round match, striking 38 winners to just 24 unforced errors in his one-hour, 41-minute triumph that ended at 9:33 p.m.

“I really wanted to finish today. I didn’t want to play a set tomorrow,” Monfils said. “I’m happy I managed to play well, and I’m very happy about that.”

The No. 1 Frenchman, a 2008 semi-finalist and two-time quarter-finalist at Roland Garros, has enjoyed a resurgent 2019 after struggling in parts of last season due to injury. Monfils claimed his eighth ATP Tour title in Rotterdam, and recently held two match points against Roger Federer in Madrid before falling in a third-set tie-break. In the next round, he will face countryman Adrian Mannarino, who finished his 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory against Italian qualifier Stefano Travaglia just moments after Monfils.

In the second set, it appeared Daniel might even the match after breaking in the first game and increasing his aggression at points. But in the key moments, Monfils was able to raise his level another notch, showing his incredible athleticism with dogged defence and rapid covering of the net to take a two-sets lead.

“I paid a price at the beginning of the second set because I was too fast from the back of the court, and I could have waited a bit to slow down, ease the pressure. And then luckily I was able to win this very long game at 5-4 and go two sets to love,” Monfils said. “It’s not easy. But two sets to love, I was quite happy to win this game for one good reason. I was serving afterwards, and I was going to put a lot of pressure, serve very hard, to show that I want to go faster.”

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But Monfils was not content with that, locking in even more in the decider, especially on serve (11/11 first-serve points won), to move through in the nick of time. Monfils’ only first-round loss at Roland Garros came on his debut in 2005, when he was 18.

Mannarino, on the other hand, is through to the second round in Paris for only the third time on his 11th appearance. Mannarino leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, including a five-set win at Wimbledon in 2017.

“It’s never easy to play a French guy, especially Adrian. He has a game which is particularly — he’s left-handed, he plays very flat and low balls in the backhand. And over the past two years he’s been playing better on clay. He’s feeling better. He’s a good warrior,” Monfils said. “It’s always difficult matches in Roland Garros to play against French players, because the audience is shared. It’s not easy.”

Top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo and two-time Roland Garros champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan made a winning start on Tuesday in Paris, while second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares bowed out.

Kubot and Melo, playing together at the clay-court major for a third straight year, defeated Spaniards Roberto Carballes Baena and Jaume Munar 6-3, 7-6(2). The seventh-seeded Bryans, meanwhile, needed three sets to get by another Spanish tandem, Pablo Carreno Busta and Gerard Granollers, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

“It was a very tough team, and we’re very happy with the result,” said Mike Bryan, who is celebrating his 500th week at No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Ranking. “Sticky first round, and first rounds are never easy, especially with a week off and all the nerves with the lead-up. I thought we really raised our games and changed some things tactically that got us over the line. It was a strong effort from us.”

The Bryans missed last year’s Roland Garros due to a hip injury for Bob – marking the first time since the 1999 Australian Open that he’d missed a major. Mike teamed up with fellow American Sam Querrey, and lost in the first round to Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski. The Bryans will face the Skupskis in the second round this year.

“It’s great to be back playing another Slam together… It’s a special place. We won our first Slam here,” said Mike. “We’re here 16 years later, still doing it. We’ve played 20 French [Opens] and have never gone out in the first round.”

Murray and Soares, recent finalists in Barcelona, were unable to hold onto their lead in a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) defeat to Italians Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Sonego. Sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus also fell in their first-round match to Rohan Bopanna and Marius Copil 6-3, 7-6(4), while ninth-seeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos were defeated by Denys Molchanov and Igor Zelenay 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3.

Ivan Dodig and Edouard Roger-Vasselin have both won the Roland Garros title – Dodig in 2015 with Melo and Roger-Vasselin in 2014 with Julien Benneteau – but were unable to maintain their strong start Tuesday in a 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 loss to #NextGenATP stars Miomir Kecmanovic and Casper Ruud. Dodig and Roger-Vasselin had won the Lyon title on Saturday.

Eighth seed Henri Kontinen and John Peers made their way safely into the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Leonardo Mayer and Joao Sousa. Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, the No. 10 seeds, closed out a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Cristian Garin and Juan Ignacio Londero.

Eleven-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal, 2009 winner Roger Federer and sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas headline a busy Day 4 on Wednesday. Seventh seed Kei Nishikori and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the first men’s match on Court Philippe-Chatrier in a blockbuster second-round clash. 

Two-time defending champion Nadal faces German qualifier Yannick Maden, who won the first Grand Slam main draw match of his career on Monday. The Spaniard improved to 87-2 record at Roland Garros after dropping six games in his first-round victory over another German qualifier in Yannick Hanfmann. Nadal is 14-0 in second-round matches at Roland Garros.

Third seed Federer takes on German “lucky loser” Oscar Otte, who is competing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time. The Swiss star sprinted past Lorenzo Sonego in his opening round and has looked solid throughout the European clay swing, reaching the quarter-finals at both the Mutua Madrid Open and Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Federer has reached at least the fourth round in Paris in his past 11 appearances.

Seventh seed Nishikori and Tsonga clash for the first time in three years. Nishikori leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 5-3, but the Frenchman won a five-set quarter-final classic in their only previous meeting at Roland Garros in 2015. The Japanese star has reached at least the fourth round in his past four appearances in Paris, while Tsonga is a two-time semi-finalist (2013 and 2015) at this event. Both men have won an ATP Tour title this year, with Nishikori prevailing in Brisbane (d. Medvedev) and Tsonga triumphing on home soil in Montpellier (d. Herbert)

“I was really in the match with beautiful intentions. I had played very well the first two sets, and then there was this stop because of the panel, and he came back with different intentions than what was happening during the first two sets,” recalled Tsonga of his 2015 clash with Nishikori. “The match was balanced. He came back, and I did a fantastic fifth set on the centre court with a fantastic crowd. So that’s the type of matches you enjoy, because everything is present. You have a great player in front of you. You play your best tennis. You have a crowd cheering you. It’s the best scenario you can have in Roland Garros.”

Tsitsipas squares off with Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien, who became the first Bolivian to win a Grand Slam match in 36 years with his victory on Sunday over Prajnesh Gunneswaran. The sixth seed’s outstanding European clay swing includes a stunning victory over Nadal en route to a runner-up finish in Madrid (l. to Djokovic), a semi-final showing in Rome and his fourth ATP Tour title at the Millennium Estoril Open (d. Cuevas). Tsitsipas’ win on Sunday over Maximillan Marterer made him the first player to reach 30 tour-level wins this season.

Other notable matches on Wednesday include No. 11 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia taking on Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Cilic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 4-1 and has won their past three matches. Swiss Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion and No. 24 seed this year, plays Cristian Garin. The Chilean has lifted trophies this year at the BMW Open by FWU (d. Berrettini) and Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship (d. Ruud).

More On #RG19

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* Dellien Goes From Retirement To Slam Breakthrough

ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2019

Court Philippe-Chatrier start 11:00
WTA match
[7] Kei Nishikori vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
[3] Roger Federer vs [LL] Oscar Otte
WTA match

Court Suzanne Lenglen start 11:00
WTA match
[2] Rafael Nadal vs [Q] Yannick Maden
WTA match
Benoit Paire vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert

Court Simonne-Mathieu start 11:00
[6] Stefanos Tsitsipas vs [Q] Hugo Dellien
WTA match
[11] Marin Cilic vs Grigor Dimitrov
WTA match

Court No. 1 start 11:00
WTA match
Richard Gasquet vs Juan Ignacio Londero
[24] Stan Wawrinka vs Cristian Garin
WTA matchr

Court No. 14 start 11:00
WTA match
[27] David Goffin vs Miomir Kecmanovic
[WC] Nicolas Mahut vs Philipp Kohlschreiber

Court No. 7 start 11:00
[19] Guido Pella vs [WC] Corentin Moutet
Two WTA matches
[21] Alex de Minaur vs Pablo Carreno Busta

Court No. 6 start 11:00
WTA match
Filip Krajinovic vs Roberto Carballes Baena
[17] Diego Schwartzman vs Leonardo Mayer

Court No. 8 start 11:00
[WC] Mathias Bourgue / Jonathan Eyeserric vs Elliot Benchetrit / Geoffrey Blancaneaux
WTA match
Radu Albot / Malek Jaziri vs Mikhail Kukushkin / Joran Vliegen
[4] Oliver Marach / Mate Pavic vs Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan / Mischa Zverev

Court No. 9 start 11:00
Marcelo Demoliner / Divij Sharan vs Marton Fucsovics / Robert Lindstedt
[5] Nikola Mektic / Franko Skugor vs Pablo Cuevas / Feliciano Lopez
WTA match
[3] Juan Sebastian Cabal / Robert Farah vs Matthew Ebden / John-Patrick Smith

Court No. 10 start 11:00
Ricardas Berankis / Yoshihito Nishioka vs Mackenzie McDonald / Reilly Opelka
WTA match
John Millman / Jordan Thompson vs [WC] Enzo Couacaud / Tristan Lamasine

Court No. 11 start 11:00
Dusan Lajovic / Janko Tipsarevic vs Santiago Gonzalez / Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi
WTA match
Steve Johnson / Denis Kudla vs Daniel Evans / Cameron Norrie
WTA match

Court No. 12 start 11:00
WTA match
[31] Laslo Djere vs [WC] Alexei Popyrin
Marcel Granollers / Marc Lopez vs Denis Shapovalov / Fernando Verdasco

Court No. 13 start 11:00
Two WTA matches
[29] Matteo Berrettini vs Casper Ruud
Ugo Humbert / Adrian Mannarino vs Benjamin Bonzi / Antoine Hoang