French Open order of play: Popcorn matches and potential stories ahead of day three

Michael Graham
24 May 2022

Who to watch and what to watch out for on day three at the French Open.

The French Open continues on Tuesday with plenty of intrigue on offer.

We are obviously a long way from the business end of the tournament still, but shocks are already happening and day three offers a first look at players who will play a major role during the second week.

What to watch out for

The lower halves of the French Open singles draws takes centre stage on day three, and it's fair to say it's lacking in a little star power.

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev have already played. On the women's side, the likes of Bianca Andreescu, Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu have also already got their campaigns underway. Naomi Osaka and defending champion Barbora Krejikova have already gone out.

So, while Tuesday's line-up is lacking in star names, it won't be struggling for intrigue.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the fourth seed, will be the main draw in the night session as he takes on brilliant young Italian Lorenzo Musetti. World number two Daniil Medvedev also plays his first round match against Facundo Bagnis, although he detests clay court tennis so it may not be as one-sided as it looks like it should be on paper.

Former champion and serious dark horse Simona Halep is also in action, as is the dangerous American Frances Tiafoe.

Day three could ultimately be about a pair of French players who could be playing their final matches at Roland Garros.

Former world number four Jo-Wilfied Tsonga has a tough one as he faces the eighth seed and clay-court specialist Casper Ruud. Gilles Simon, meanwhile, has an equally tough test against Pablo Carreno Busta. If they lose, they will bid farewell to the French Open after storied careers.

Keep your eye out for youngsters Ugo Humbert (against Emil Ruusuvouri) and Jannik Sinner (against Bjorn Fratangelo). The draw could easily create a huge opportunity for either to go deep in the tournament.

Popcorn match: Lorenzo Musetti vs Stefanos Tsitsipas

World number four Stefanos Tsitsipas lost out in the final here last year and he will be desperate to go one better and claim a maiden major.

The draw has definitely been kind to him in terms of the bigger picture, but he will first need to come through what could be a really tricky test against Lorenzo Musetti.

Musetti is one of the most talented youngsters on Tour, and absolutely loves the limelight. In that sense, being centre-stage under the lights on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the night session could be perfect conditions to bring the best from him.

Tsitsipas will still be the favourite and clay is probably the surface best suited to his game. He will be very wary of Musetti, though, who boasts an incredible one-handed driven backhand down the line.

You can find the full French Open day three order of play below, with play starting at 10:00 BST.

It is also worth keeping an eye on Paula Badosa vs Fiona Ferro. Badosa is fancied by many to win the tournament, but Frenchwoman Ferro will be backed by a partisan crowd and it could make for a very interesting contest.

COURT PHILIPPE-CHATRIER

Alize CORNET (FRA) v Misaki DOI (JPN)

Casper RUUD (NOR)[8] v Jo-Wilfried TSONGA (FRA)

Paula BADOSA (ESP)[3] v Fiona FERRO (FRA)

Lorenzo MUSETTI (ITA) v Stefanos TSITSIPAS (GRE)[4]

COURT SUZANNE-LENGLEN

Facundo BAGNIS (ARG) v Daniil MEDVEDEV (---)[2]

Taylor TOWNSEND (USA) v Caroline GARCIA (FRA)

Hugo GASTON (FRA) v Alex DE MINAUR (AUS)[19]

Chloé PAQUET (FRA) v Aryna SABALENKA (---)[7]

COURT SIMONNE-MATHIEU

Tessah ANDRIANJAFITRIMO (FRA) v Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE)[8]

Frances TIAFOE (USA)[24] v Benjamin BONZI (FRA)

Simona HALEP (ROU)[19] v Nastasja SCHUNK (GER)

Pablo CARRENO BUSTA (ESP)[16] v Gilles SIMON (FRA)

COURT 14

Lucia BRONZETTI (ITA) v Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT)[13]

Andrey RUBLEV (---)[7] v Soonwoo KWON (KOR)

Camila GIORGI (ITA)[28] v Shuai ZHANG (CHN)

Lucas POUILLE (FRA) v Zdenek KOLAR (CZE)

COURT 7

Emil RUUSUVUORI (FIN) v Ugo HUMBERT (FRA)

Jessica PEGULA (USA)[11] v Qiang WANG (CHN)

Bjorn FRATANGELO (USA) v Jannik SINNER (ITA)[11]

Rebecca SRAMKOVA (SVK) v Daria KASATKINA (---)[20]

COURT 6

Danielle COLLINS (USA)[9] v Viktoriya TOMOVA (BUL)

Adrian MANNARINO (FRA) v Federico DELBONIS (ARG)

Claire LIU (USA) v Tamara ZIDANSEK (SLO)[24]

Giulio ZEPPIERI (ITA) v Hubert HURKACZ (POL)[12]

COURT 10

Joao SOUSA (POR) v Chun-Hsin TSENG (TPE)

Shelby ROGERS (USA) v Tereza MARTINCOVA (CZE)

Roberto CARBALLES BAENA (ESP) v Oscar OTTE (GER)

Panna UDVARDY (HUN) v Fernanda CONTRERAS GOMEZ (MEX)

COURT 11

Ricardas BERANKIS (LTU) v Laslo DJERE (SRB)

Jiri LEHECKA (CZE) v David GOFFIN (BEL)

Irina BARA (ROU) v Yulia PUTINTSEVA (KAZ)

Madison BRENGLE (USA) v Mihaela BUZARNESCU (ROU)

COURT 12

Denis SHAPOVALOV (CAN)[14] v Holger RUNE (DEN)

Mayar SHERIF (EGY) v Marta KOSTYUK (UKR)

Oksana SELEKHMETEVA (---) v Kaja JUVAN (SLO)

Jiri VESELY (CZE) v Steve JOHNSON (USA)

COURT 13

Aleksandra KRUNIC (SRB) v Kamilla RAKHIMOVA (---)

Peter GOJOWCZYK (GER) v Lorenzo SONEGO (ITA)[32]

Anhelina KALININA (UKR) v Hailey BAPTISTE (USA)

Marco CECCHINATO (ITA) v Pablo ANDUJAR (ESP)