It’s anyone’s guess who will take the doubles title at Roland Garros after a wild first round filled with upsets. For the first time in the Open Era at this event, the top two seeds have not passed the opening hurdle. The last time this happened at a Grand Slam was at the 2015 US Open.

Third seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan avoided an early-round casualty on Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya. The Bryan brothers, finalists in the past two years at Roland Garros, are looking to win their third crown at this event. They’ll next play Sam Groth and Robert Lindstedt, who survived Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3).

Second seeds and local favourites Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut weren’t as fortunate, falling to Aussie duo Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-3. Kyrgios/Thompson saved three set points at 4-5 in the opening set and another in the tie-break at 7/8. They’ll face off in the second round against Jan-Lennard Struff and Mischa Zverev, who defeated wild cards Gregoire Jacq and Hugo Nys 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo overcame a spirited challenge from local favourites Julien Benneteau and Jeremy Chardy to advance 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. The win also gives Melo his 400th career ATP World Tour doubles victory. The in-form Kubot/Melo will square off against Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus for a spot in the round of 16.

Seventh seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers eased past Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner 6-4, 6-4. Next up for them are Malek Jaziri and Andreas Seppi, who needed two hours and 20 minutes to defeat Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 6-4.

Ninth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas had a much easier time, requiring just 53 minutes to move past local duo Mathias Bourgue and Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-1, 6-1. They’ll play Treat Huey and Denis Istomin in the next round.

Other seeded duos to advance on Wednesday include 12^th seeds Marcin Matkowski and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, and 15^th seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic.

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com

It would be understandable to anyone if Steve Johnson decided to take time away from tennis after the unexpected and tragic passing of his father, Steve Johnson Sr., on May 11 at age 58. Instead, the American bravely returned to competition last week in Geneva, and completed a dramatic 6-2, 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-6(6) second-round victory over #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric on Wednesday to match best result at this event. The events of the past three weeks and tension of the match boiled over after the final point, as Johnson dropped to his knees and burst into tears after the win.

“I just miss my dad. I wish he was following along. I know he is upstairs,” said a visibly emotional Johnson in his on-court interview with Tennis Channel. “I know he was looking down on me on that last point and gave me the strength to finish it off.

“Physically, I’m okay. Emotionally, I’m a mess,” he added. “[My dad] always taught me to be a fighter and competitor, so that’s what I’m going to do day in and day out. That’s all I can do.”

It was standing room only on Court 6 by the end of the match, with the vocal Parisian crowd adding to an already electric atmosphere. Johnson saved two set points in the second-set tie-break, at 5/6 and 7/8, and another pair of set points in the fourth-set tie-break at 7/8. He converted on his fourth match point at 7/6 after nearly four hours of play.

Johnson’s path to the third round would have been considered treacherous under normal circumstances. Johnson prevailed on Monday in a five-set win over Yuichi Sugita that spanned two days. The American won the first two sets on Sunday, but darkness halted the match midway through the fourth set. He regrouped strongly after Sugita forced a decider the next day and powered through the final set.

Johnson Sr. worked as a tennis coach and was known as a true devotee of the sport, happy to talk about tennis with anyone who was willing. Even though Johnson has devoted his life to the sport as an ATP World Tour player, he said his father was even more dedicated to the game than him.

“Tennis was his life and his passion, so much more than mine in different ways. He loved tennis and loved to talk about it. I’ll admit it got a little old for me because sometimes I like to get away from tennis,” smiled Johnson during his post-match press conference. “I’ll always look back on these memories and these times we were able to share together tennis-wise.

“He meant a lot to me, but you don’t necessarily realise what he was able to do and who he was able to touch beyond his family’s life,” he added. “I could have told you bits and pieces, but now I’m getting stories of what he was able to accomplish through tennis and how he was able to help a lot of kids. He’s just a remarkable man.”

Johnson will try to channel his emotions as best he can for his next match against sixth seed Dominic Thiem. The match will likely be held on one of the stadium courts at Roland Garros, adding further motivation for what would have been a memorable moment for his dad to witness.

“I’m proud to say he was able to live out some of his dreams. He got to see me on Centre Court at Wimbledon and Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open. The last match he saw me play live was against Roger Federer at the BNP Paribas Open, which was a great match,” said Johnson. “There are some fun memories that I can look back on and know he was there.” 

But regardless of the final score against Thiem, Johnson has gained plenty of new fans over the past two weeks for his courage and bravery in the face of adversity.

“A tremendous heart on him,” noted Tennis Channel commentator Mary Carillo. “He’s always wanted to be like his dad and guess what? He’s just like his dad. What a special man.”

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com

Milos Raonic relied on his most destructive weapon – his serve – to fight back and prevail against a clay-court veteran on Wednesday at Roland Garros. The fifth-seeded Canadian struck 25 aces, including four in the final game, to beat Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and move into the third round.

“There’s some pluses to take out of it, some things I definitely want to do better. Obviously, I was very competitive. I felt a little bit sluggish to start. Sort of let him really into it, and you could see that he started believing after a while, and that’s always a dangerous state. I managed to weather the storm and hold it out throughout that match,” Raonic said.

Raonic remains on track to match his best showing in Paris, the quarter-finals in 2014, when he fell to Novak Djokovic. The 6’5” right-hander fell in the fourth round last year to Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

This fortnight, however, Raonic arrives at the season’s second Grand Slam with newfound reasons for optimism. He reached his first clay-court final at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open this month before falling to then-World No. 8 Marin Cilic.

At the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Raonic was edged out in the quarter-finals by eventual champion Alexander Zverev. Last week in Lyon, Raonic again made a deep run, making the last four before falling to Czech veteran Tomas Berdych.

The Canadian also has his health in Paris. Earlier this year, he had to withdraw from matches in Delray Beach and Miami, and had to completely miss Acapulco and Indian Wells.

Still, Raonic’s second-round match against Dutra Silva was anything but straightforward. Fifteen of Dutra Silva’s 21 tour-level wins have come on clay, and the 33 year old favours the surface more than any other, having played eight of his 10 tour-level events this season on clay.

Dutra Silva broke twice to take the first set, but Raonic responded, breaking in the sixth and eighth games of the second set to even the match. In the third set, at 3-2, Raonic converted his fifth break point of the game to go up 4-2 before eventually taking the set.

The Canadian was at his best in the fourth and final set. At 4-4, with Dutra Silva serving, Raonic lost his first six break points. But on Raonic’s seventh chance, Dutra Silva netted a forehand and the Brazilian wouldn’t touch another ball. Literally. Raonic served four consecutive aces to end the match.

He said it was at least the third time he’s finished a tour-level match with four straight aces. “I could name three matches off the top of my head: today; Robin Haase in Paris indoors; and my first match, I think it was against [Carlos] Berlocq the year I lost second round at Wimbledon [2013],” Raonic said.

From ?? to ??.@milosraonic into the third round for the 5th time here in Paris ➡️https://t.co/Mcqaj6QaBt.#RG17 pic.twitter.com/lbFrFlJ3E6

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2017

The fifth seed will next face Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who beat Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti 7-5, 6-4, 7-5. Raonic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0 but their last match was three years ago.

In other action, 10^th seed David Goffin saw 16 break points and converted four of them to advance to the third round 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 against Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky. Last year, Goffin achieved his best result at a Grand Slam when he reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals (l. to Thiem).

Goffin will next face Argentine Horacio Zeballos, who withstood 29 aces from Croatian Ivo Karlovic to advance 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-3 in two hours and 13 minutes.

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.

Rafael Nadal’s quest for a 10^th Roland Garros crown continued on Wednesday with a convincing 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Robin Haase in the second round.

The Spaniard, seeded fourth in Paris, improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Haase to 3-0 and boosts his record at Roland Garros to 74-2. He has done well to conserve energy in the early rounds, spending just three hours and 41 minutes on court in his first two matches.

Nadal finished the day with 33 winners to 13 unforced errors, breaking Haase five times. He was also flawless on serve, not facing a break point in the contest. Perhaps, most surprising, was Nadal’s willingness to charge to the front of the court in a bid to shorten points, winning 15 of 22 trips to the net.

Watch out! @robin_haase turns Robin Hood in his 2R encounter with Nadal.#RG17 pic.twitter.com/kaxRh0Yt0F

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2017

Next up for Nadal is Nikoloz Basilashvili, who reached the third round at Roland Garros for the first time by defeating Viktor Troicki 7-6(3), 7-6(2), 7-6(6). The Georgian, currently No. 63 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, has produced solid results in 2017. He reached the final in Memphis (l. Harrison) and recorded semi-final showings in Sofia and Lyon.

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com