Gilles Simon survived a five-set thriller to extend his Roland Garros farewell in the opening round. After going the distance to upset Pablo Carreno Busta, he had an easier time of it on Thursday against American Steve Johnson.

The 37-year-old French wild card made the most of the Court Philippe Chatrier stage to earn his 500th match win with a 7-5, 6-1, 7-6(6) result, advancing to the third round in Paris for the first time since 2018. Just as in his Tuesday victory, he rode a wave of crowd support to get over the line, leaving the fans on the stadium court singing “Seven Nation Army” after he secured victory on his second match point.

Gilles Simon prolonge le plaisir !
Il s’impose 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (6) face à SteveJohnson et file vers le 3e tour ! #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/sPAfy3DV4n

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 26, 2022

The topsy-turvy contest included 11 breaks of serve, with Simon breaking seven times on 17 chances. The home favourite fell a double break behind at 0-3 in the opening set only to win four straight games to establish himself in the contest. 

From 5-all in the first set, he won seven straight games to take command of the match. But there were more twists in the third set, as Simon twice let a break advantage slip, including when he served for the match at 5-4. After playing for nearly four hours in the opening round, Simon avoided another marathon match by claiming a tight tie-break in which just three points went against serve.

Simon advances to face 20th seed Marin Cilic after the Croatian defeated Marton Fucsovics, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, earlier on Thursday. With one more victory, Simon will match his best run at his home Grand Slam by reaching the last 16 for what would be the fourth time (2011, 2013, 2015).

Casper Ruud equalled his best result at Roland Garros Thursday, moving past Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round for the fourth consecutive year.

The Norwegian, who defeated the retiring Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his opening match, looked comfortable throughout against Ruusuvuori and raised his level when required, saving all four break points he faced to advance after two hours and 10 minutes.

“It was [a] high-quality match from the first to the last point,” Ruud said in his post-match press conference. “I think we both played better than what we did in Barcelona. The level was a little bit higher. Emil is playing much better on clay. He’s moving better and playing well from the baseline.

“It was definitely a challenge. Even though it was three straight sets, there were some tough moments in the match, and some chances I didn’t get, but some chances I got. All in all, I’m very happy with the performance.”

The 23-year-old arrived in Paris in a confident mood after he captured his eighth tour-level title and seventh on clay in Geneva last week. Having made the short journey across from Switzerland, Ruud has quickly adjusted to the colder conditions at Roland Garros and has now won his past six matches.

The eighth seed will aim to advance to the fourth round for the first time in the French capital when he takes on Portugal’s Joao Sousa, whom Ruud defeated in the final in Geneva, or 32nd seed Lorenzo Sonego.

In front of a full crowd on Court 14, Ruud dictated the tempo throughout, with his consistent and deep groundstrokes pinning Ruusuvuori behind the baseline. The Norwegian struck 41 winners and committed 28 unforced errors as he pulled his 23-year-old opponent around to improve to 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series.

Ruusuvuori was competing in the second round in Paris for the first time, having edged Frenchman Ugo Humbert in five sets. He lost in the first round in 2020 and 2021.

In other early action, #NextGenATP Holger Rune built on his standout win over 14th seed Denis Shapovalov by dispatching Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 51 minutes.

The Dane, currently third in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan, is making his debut in Paris. The 19-year-old has enjoyed a strong season, clinching his maiden ATP Tour title in Munich before he reached the semi-finals in Lyon last week.

_{^{Photo Credit: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty Images}}

Rune, who won 86 per cent (42/49) of his first-serve points against Laaksonen, now holds a 12-3 record on the season on the European clay. He will play Frenchman Hugo Gaston or Argentine lucky loser Pedro Cachin in the third round.

Rune has already jumped nine places this week to No. 31 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as he continues his quest to crack the Top 30 for the first time.

The bottom half of the men’s singles draw takes the stage on Thursday for the completion of the second round, led by No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev and No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Seventh seed Andrey Rublev is also in action, as well as #NextGenATP stars Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune.

Doubles action from the first and second rounds will also dot the grounds, with second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic playing for a place in the last 16.

[2] Daniil Medvedev vs. Laslo Djere (SER)

Laslo Djere won the only previous meeting between the pair, but the victory came via a second-set retirement five years ago in 2017 on the clay of Budapest. The Serbian would reach the Roland Garros third round for the third time if he can pull off the upset on Court Philippe Chatrier; he has not been beyond the second round at any other Grand Slam.

Medvedev picked up his first clay win of the season by beating Facundo Bagnis, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, in the opening round. He returned from a groin injury in time to play Geneva last week, but lost to Richard Gasquet in his opening match.

Far from a clay specialist, the World No. 2 was happy with his win over the Argentine on Tuesday as he seeks to match his quarter-final run from last year in Paris.

“On clay I have to focus even more on myself than on the opponent,” he said after downing Bagnis. “Just have to… don’t do mistakes. Put the ball in the court. Today I managed to do this well. Feeling good physically, mentally. Ready for next round, which is not going to be easy.

“This year I like my level so far. Of course, then again, it’s Grand Slam, can have tougher opponents, can lose second, third round, and you are not going to be happy.”

[4] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. Zdenek Kolar (CZE)

Tsitsipas, like Alexander Zverev and Diego Schwartzman did in the second round Wednesday, battled back from two sets down to beat Lorenzo Musetti in his opening match. The Greek dropped 10 of 11 games during a brutal stretch over the course of the first two sets, but found his serve and regrouped to win the final three sets in relatively straightforward fashion.

“I have to really work to get things in life,” he said of the match. “Things don’t come easy. I refuse to give up. That’s simply how it works with me. You never really think about getting back after being two sets to love. You just play it point after point. You just wish that your efforts will pay off on a longer scale, longer run.

“Being in that situation, it’s a mountain that you have to climb, and I was able to climb it and regain the momentum steadily but consistently.”

Welcome to the @steftsitsipas show 🤩#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/sZlkCGDJ4O

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 24, 2022

By coming back from the brink, Tsitsipas maintained his status as the favourite in the bottom half of the draw as he seeks a repeat of his final run from last year. He also reached the Roland Garros semi-finals in 2021, losing to Novak Djokovic in each of the past two years.

Zdenek Kolar enters this Court Suzanne Lenglen showdown on the heels of what is likely the biggest win of his career, certainly by stage if not by the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Making his Grand Slam debut, he earned his first tour-level win, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, over French wild card and World No. 162 Lucas Pouille. The 25-year-old Kolar qualified for this year’s main draw after losing in qualifiers each of the past four years.

[7] Andrey Rublev vs. Federico Delbonis (ARG)

Rublev won the first ATP Head2Head meeting between this pair, which also came at a Grand Slam: Wimbledon 2021, where Delbonis took the opening set but fell in four first-round sets.

Rublev had a similar result against Soonwoo Kwon on Thursday, working his way into the match after dropping the first set of his Roland Garros campaign. He advanced with a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

“I didn’t really have confidence, [it] was [the] first match since I lost also first round in Rome,” the seventh seed said of that match. “So I was a bit tight. But little by little, I tried to find a way to play better and better… From the beginning till the end, I finished much better than I started.”

Getting it done 💥@AndreyRublev97 survives a first-set scare to overcome Kwon 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/SdbNsIEOiw

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 24, 2022

Delbonis will take to Court Simonne Mathieu full of confidence after a 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-2 first-round win over France’s Adrian Mannarino. But the 31-year-old has not managed consecutive victories since he reached the Buenos Aires semi-finals in February.

Best Of The Rest

After Carlos Alcaraz and Brandon Nakashima advanced to the third round on Thursday, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune can make it four #NextGenATP stars in the last 32. Sinner, seeded 11th, takes on Roberto Carballes Baena as he seeks to match his best run to the 2020 Roland Garros quarters. The unseeded Rune faces Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen after a straight-sets upset of 14th seed Denis Shapovalov in what was the Dane’s first match at the clay-court major.

On Chatrier, Gilles Simon will play for his 500th win and to further extend his farewell Roland Garros after a five-set upset of 16th seed Pablo Carreno Busta on Tuesday. Another Frenchman, Hugo Gaston, will take to Lenglen to face Pedro Cachin after his own five-set upset against 19th seed Alex de Minaur. 

In doubles action, Mektic and Pavic carry a 10-match win streak into the second round. The Croatians followed up their Rome and Geneva titles with a straight-sets win over Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan on Tuesday. They’ll face Robin Haase and Raven Klaasen on Court 2.

Sixth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, winners of four tour-level titles since they joined forces for the first time in January, are also in action against Ramkumar Ramanathan and Hunter Reese.

Rafael Nadal reached the latest milestone in his legendary career on Wednesday by earning his 300th Grand Slam victory. The Spaniard faced a worthy opponent in fellow lefty Corentin Moutet, but had an answer for everything the Frenchman threw his way on Court Philippe Chatrier.

With his 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 victory, Nadal became just the third man to reach the 300-wins mark at the Grand Slams, behind only Roger Federer’s 369 wins and Novak Djokovic’s 324.

“I’m happy I am through in three sets, that’s an important fact for me and that gives me the chance to keep working tomorrow and try to be ready for after tomorrow against a tough opponent,” said Nadal, who will face Botic van de Zandschulp on Friday. “So let’s see. I am happy about a lot of things that I did tonight, so let’s try to keep going and keep improving tomorrow.”

In the final match of the evening on Chatrier, Nadal controlled the baseline and relentlessly attacked Moutet’s serve, winning just under half (36/75) of his return points and converting on seven of 12 break points in the match.

“Just enjoying the fact that I am at #RolandGarros.”

So are we @RafaelNadal, so are we 🧡 pic.twitter.com/sF8BSefvnB

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 25, 2022

Moutet did his best to stay aggressive and found intermittent success with that tactic, as well as with several drop shots. Some of his best moments came in the third set, when he held an early 2-0 lead and later broke Nadal as the Spaniard tried to serve out the match at 5-3.

But Nadal, who led 3-0 and 4-0 in the opening two sets, respectively, snapped back to secure victory with his seventh break. He won the last four points of the match from 15/0 on the Moutet serve, bringup up match point with a clever drop shot and clinching the match by chasing down a drop shot from Moutet.

“I enjoyed more 6-1,” Nadal said with a laugh when asked if he relished the competitive finale. “After that I think I played a basic set. At the beginning of the third I [played] a very bad game at the beginning and I had to come back. I did well. And then, again, I had a couple of mistakes in the serving for the match. Happy that I played another good game to finish.”

The 23-year-old Moutet enjoyed plenty of crowd support in the matchup against his childhood idol, but could not stop Nadal from improving to 10-0 against Frenchmen at Roland Garros, including a 30-2 record in sets. Nadal is 96-13 overall against French opposition, including 16 straight wins. 

“I think the crowd was very nice with me too, no?” he said of the Chatrier environment. “I really didn’t feel the crowd against me at all. I think it was a 50-50 and it was supporting good tennis.

“I always enjoy good support here in Paris. I think the people here know how special this place is for me and how important and how much respect I always had for Roland Garros. I think they appreciate all the things that I did in this event, so I feel a lot of love from the people here.”

Nadal also improved to a perfect 14-0 against lefties at Roland Garros (114-16 overall) and 52-0 prior to the fourth round at the Paris major, not including his 2016 walkover to Marcel Granollers.

Moutet, who beat 2015 Roland Garros champ Stan Wawrinka to set up what was a dream matchup for him, was seeking his first Top 10 win but instead dropped to 0-7 in such matches. His best win by the Pepperstone ATP Rankings was a victory over then-World No. 13 David Goffin in Halle last season.

Nadal advances to face Van de Zandschulp in the third round after the 26th seed got past Fabio Fognini, who retired after falling behind by two sets earlier on Wednesday. The Dutchman qualified for Roland Garros and reached the second round last year as the World No. 154. Now seeded for the first time at a Grand Slam, his Friday meeting with Nadal will be his first match against a member of the Big Four.

The 26-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough run to the 2021 US Open quarter-finals, where he was the only man to take a set off eventual champion Daniil Medvedev. He reached his first ATP Tour final less than one month ago in Munich, beating Casper Ruud and Miomir Kecmanovic before chest pains forced him to retire in the final against Holger Rune.

Carlos Alcaraz can be described in many ways, but fearful isn’t one of them.

The 19-year-old, seeded sixth at Roland Garros, had ice water in his veins as he stared down a match point in the fourth set of his second-round battle on Wednesday with Albert Ramos-Vinolas. He played fearlessly in the tightest moments of the fourth-set tie-break and maintained his intensity as they passed the four-hour mark, eventually smacking a ball into the stands with glee after his 6-1, 6-7(9), 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-4 comeback.

”You always have nerves in the match, but I think I wasn’t nervous today,” said Alcaraz. “Just maybe at the end of the fourth set when I was down match point, there was maybe that thought, ‘Well, you are one point from losing.’ But I tried not to think that I’m in Roland Garros. I’m trying to enjoy the moment.

”I respect him. I know him a lot. I knew that it was going to be a great match and a tough match. But I’m very happy with my level, being able to come back and of course beat him at the end.”

Alcaraz might still be a teenager who only secured his driver’s license a few months ago, but he’s no longer a rookie on Tour. Despite this being only his sixth Grand Slam appearance, he has a 4-1 record in five-set matches. He’s served out matches to win ATP Masters 1000 titles and defeat legends of the game. He’s played on show courts at every Grand Slam.

It might be a stretch to refer to a 19-year-old as a veteran, but he’s already gained a level of experience that only a select few of his peers on Tour can match.

”I’m still young, but I would say a pretty experienced player now. I feel comfortable playing in big stadiums, big matches, playing in Grand Slams,” said Alcaraz. “Physically and mentally, I’m strong. I think I’m ready to play these kinds of matches in these situations and these tournaments.”

Perhaps most importantly, Alcaraz is relishing these moments. He riled the crowd up when the moment called for it against Ramos-Vinolas and took time to sign autographs after more than four hours of play.

His path doesn’t get easier as he gears up for a high-profile third-round showdown with No. 27 seed Sebastian Korda, but it’s a position that Alcaraz wants to continue finding himself in.

“In the fourth and fifth sets, I smiled with my team. So I enjoy the battles,” said Alcaraz. “I want to play big battles and tough battles against the best players in the world.”