RG LIVE - Thursday May 21

Sweet sixteen

All 16 third round qualifying matches have come to a close here in Paris and here are your first 16 qualifiers.

Congrats to Sloane Stephens, Thomas Faurel, Jaime Faria, Sinja Kraus, Thomas Samuel, Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, Michael Zheng, Mayar Sherif, Maja Chwalinska, Federico Cina, Facundo Diaz Acosta, Elena Pridankina, Ashlyn Krueger, Andrea Pellegrino, Hanyu Guo and Alina Korneeva.

➡️ Thursday qualifying results

Draw Preview: Sinner's path to Paris Glory

Who can stop No.1 seed Jannik Sinner from lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires and completing the Career Grand Slam?

Chris Oddo takes a look at the contenders.

➡️ Read more

Pellegrino and Faurel revel in RG qualification

Alex Sharp takes us through some of the stories from today's play as hopefuls book their spots in the main draw at Roland-Garros 2026.

➡️ Read here

Main draw spots filling up

We’ve already told you about some of the qualifiers who’ve booked their place in the main draw - Sloane Stephens (see 13:20), Andrea Pellegrino (13:06), Michael Zheng (12:55) and Sinja Kraus (12:07).

Others who have made it through include Frenchman Thomas Faurel, who beat No.8 seed Dalibor Svrcina to set up a debut RG first round match.

Other men include Great Britain’s Toby Samuel, who came from a set down to defeat Gonzalo Bueno of Peru, and Facundo Diaz Acosta, who lost a first set tiebreak to August Holmgren but recovered to book a second appearance in the RG main draw. 

On the women’s side, No.9 seed Egyptian Mayar Sherif is safely through with a win against Greet Minnen, while Hanyu Guo of China and Elena Pridankina will also be staying in Paris for a bit longer. 

Women's draw talking points

Defending champion Coco Gauff and top seed Aryna Sabalenka have dropped in the same half so could face off in the semifinals. Sabalenka might have a fourth round date with Naomi Osaka to worry about prior to that however.

Recent Rome champion Elina Svitolina is in the bottom half as the No.7 seed and plays Anna Bondar first up. Her projected quarterfinal opponent is four-time champion Iga Swiatek who kicks off against Emerson Jones from Australia.

Iga might face her old foe Jelena Ostapenko in the third round having lost all six of their previous meetings. 2026 Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina is on a collision course with No.8 seed Mirra Andreeva in the last eight.

Jodar's Paris appointment

Recent talk of the tour Rafael Jodar - Marrakech champion, Barcelona semifinalist, Madrid quarterfinalist and Rome quarterfinalist in the last few weeks - goes up against American Aleksandar Kovacevic in the first round. The 27th seed could play Taylor Fritz in the third round and is in the same quarter as second seed Alexander Zverev.

Tough draw for Novak

Further analysis of the men's draw suggests three-time champion Novak Djokovic has landed in a particularly tricky section. Big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (now coached by British former world No.4 Greg Rusedski) stands in his way in round one, he could play Joao Fonseca or Dino Prizmic (who beat him in Rome recently) in the last 32, and an in-form Casper Ruud (twice a runner-up) in the last 16.

Relive Sloane's moment

Check out these match highlights from Sloane Stephens' third round qualifying match against Leyre Romero Gormaz

Projected men's QF

Three-time champion Novak Djokovic falls in the bottom half of the men's draw - away from top seed Jannik Sinner - and in the same half as second seed Alexander Zverev. So a possible Djokovic-Zverev semifinal, if they both go that deep.

Men's first round

It's announced that Sebastian Korda has withdrawn so there'll be 17 spots for qualifiers and lucky losers this year.

Some notable first round matches from the men's draw...

Sinner v Tabur (WC)
Zverev v Bonzi
Djokovic v Mpetshi Perricard
Fils v Wawrinka
Jodar v Kovacevic
Monfils v Gaston
Cilic v Kouame
Bublik v Struff
Buse v Rublev

Projected women's QFs

Women's first round

The women's unseeded names are placed first followed by the seeded players and here are some of the notable first round matches.

Sabalenka v Bouzas Maneiro
Gauff v Townsend
Swiatek v Jones
Mboko v Bartunkova
Osaka v Siegemund
Jovic v Eala
Boisson v Kalinskaya
Potapova v Joint
Baptiste v Krejcikova

Gael's guest list revealed

Tonight at 7.30pm local time the 'Gael and Friends' night of tennis, music and celebration will be shown live on the official Roland-Garros YouTube page.

Watch the singles draws live at 2pm

A quick reminder that the men’s and women’s singles main draws will be made at 2pm local time in Paris and you can watch the ceremony live on the official Roland-Garros YouTube channel.

FFT President Gilles Moretton, Tournament Director Amélie Mauresmo and Tony Estanguet, guest of honour and three-time Olympic canoeing gold medallist, will be in attendance at the L’Orangerie.

14th RG singles main draw for Sloane

Sloane Stephens survived a three-set encounter against Spanish 24-year-old Leyre Romero Gormaz to book a place in her 14th Roland-Garros singles main draw.

The 2018 finalist lost the first set, but stormed back to claim victory on Court Suzanne-Lenglen 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Pellegrino through

On his 17th attempt at qualifying for a Grand Slam main draw, 29-year-old Andrea Pellegrino has done it with a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory over compatriot Marco Cecchinato.

Pellegrino's RG 2026 qualifying journey started with a straights-sets win over the USA's Nicolas Moreno De Alboran, which he followed up by coming back from a set down against No.31 seed Lloyd Harris.

Pellegrino will find out who he faces in his main draw debut in less than an hour.

➡️ Watch the draw live on the Roland-Garros YouTube channel

RG debut for Zheng

Young American Michael Zheng completes the perfect week of qualifying by taking out top seeded Dutchman Jesper De Jong 7-5, 6-3 on a packed Court 7. The result earns the 22-year-old a Roland-Garros main draw debut a few months after being Sebastian Korda at the Australian Open in January. Zheng told RG writer Chris Oddo yesterday how he missed his Columbia University graduation ceremony this week to be in Paris.

➡️ Zheng hoping to graduate to big time

Keeping the Italian theme going...

Last year's doubles champions Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani are in the house.

Italian battle

Marco Cecchinato and Andrea Pellegrino have been going toe to toe in an all-Italian affair on Court 13. 

Aiming for his first Grand Slam main draw debut at age 29, Pellegrino has taken the first set 7-6 after just over an hour against 2018 semi-finalist Cecchinato. 

Friday schedule released

The order of play for Friday's remaining 16 third round qualifying matches has been released. There's a French flavour to the Court Suzanne-Lenglen line-up with Harmony Tan, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Kyrian Jacquet all on court.

➡️ Friday order of play

Main draw debut for Kraus

Congrats to Austria's Sinja Kraus who is the first player through qualifying this week after thrashing Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-1, 6-1 in 58 minutes. The 24-year-old No.2 seed will be making her Grand Slam main draw debut in Paris after three wins this week.
➡️ Thursday qualifying results

Sabalenka in the sunshine

Third round qualifying under way

Six third round qualifying matches have been going for around 30 minutes now and women's second seed Sinja Kraus from Austria has made the fastest start of anyone, racing through the first set against Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-1. Anyone who wins today is into the main draw which starts on Sunday.

Follow live scores throughout the day through the link below...
➡️ Thursday live scores

Experience the Monfils magic

Draw day, Monfils celebration

As well as the ‘qualies’ to keep us entertained, the eyes of the tennis world will fall on Paris at 2pm local time today when the men’s and women’s draws are made. You can follow live on the official Roland-Garros YouTube channel.

And tonight at 7.30pm inside Court Philippe-Chatrier Gael Monfils invites us all - including some of his high-profile peers - to celebrate his career at the ‘Gaël & Friends’ charity night of tennis, music and entertainment.

Gael’s wife Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka, Jannik Sinner, Arthur Fils, Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are all on the guest list. Renowned DJ Martin Solveig, singer Matt Pokora and comedian Paul de Saint-Sernin will also be on court.

You can watch the show live on the RG YouTube channel.

In the meantime, we’ll bring you all the scores, results, big stories and up-to-the-minute news as the drama unfolds here in the French capital.

YOU WON’T MISS A THING!