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Day 5 preview: Three to watch

The final 16 qualifying matches take place at Roland-Garros on Friday. Here are three we like the look of

Darwin Blanch / Deuxième tour de qualifications - Roland-Garros 2026
©André Ferreira / FFT
 - Alix Ramsay

➡️ Friday May 22 order of play

Court 14, third match

Darwin Blanch vs Luka Pavlovic

Keep your eyes on Darwin. The 18-year-old from Boca Raton by way of Thailand (the family moved there when he was one week old) has previous in these parts: aged 15, he reached the boys’ singles semi-finals and was watched closely by Juan Carlos Ferrero as he did so. It comes as no surprise, then, that he now trains at Ferrero’s academy and has practised often with Carlos Alcaraz. But it is Rafael Nadal that springs to mind when you see him: he has an outrageous lefty forehand that can cause serious damage. If he can get into the main draw today, that will be an achievement but even if he doesn’t, we will be seeing much more of Darwin in the future.

Darwin Blanch / Deuxième tour de qualifications - Roland-Garros 2026
©André Ferreira / FFT

Darwin Blanch

Court 7, first match

Kaitlin Quevedo vs Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales

Kaitlin is flying high at the moment. The US-born Spaniard (she was born in Naples, Florida; her father is Spanish and she now trains in Barcelona) is at a career high ranking of No.127 and last month she created a stir by beating Venus Williams. A wild card entry to the Madrid WTA 1000, the 20-year-old allowed the former world No.1 and multiple Grand Slam winner a measly six games. Now she needs to call on that experience to help her past her final hurdle to claim her first ticket to a Grand Slam main draw.

Court 6, second match

Roman Safiullin vs Tom Gentzsch

Two men who have not played a tour-level match all year – but do not be fooled by that stat. Roman knows all about playing big matches on big stages. Three years ago, he turned up at Wimbledon as the world No. 92 and romped through to the quarter-finals. Once there, he lost to Jannik Sinner but he did take a set from the Italian in the process. That a man who professes to love hard courts should do well on fast grass is not exactly surprising but there is more to Roman than that. He has been playing on the Challenger circuit this year and won two titles on clay at that level on his way to Paris.