Goffin waves goodbye as more big names exit qualifying
Former world No.7 David Goffin’s final Roland-Garros adventure ended in the second round of qualifying on Wednesday when he lost in three sets to Britain’s Toby Samuel.
The popular Belgian - who reached the last eight in Paris in 2016 - gave everything on the Paris clay one last time before accepting a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 defeat to the 23-year-old from southern England.
The 35-year-old announced in late March that 2026 will be his final year on tour and after his Paris chapter had come to an end took part in an emotional on-court ceremony to celebrate his career.
“It’s pure joy, nothing but emotion with some magnificent moments,” the Belgian told the Lenglen crowd.
“Amazing matches, beautiful courts, superb atmospheres. I’ve always been welcomed here like one of yours, like a champion, like a prince. Thank you very much.”
Goffin wasn’t the only former top 10 star to bow out on Day 3 of qualifying with defeats for former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova and past US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.
Pliskova lost comfortably to Spain’s Marina Bassols Ribera 6-3, 6-2 in 68 minutes while Andreescu stuck around longer before suffering a 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Slovakia’s Viktoria Hruncakova.
Another former US Open champion Sloane Stephens didn’t fall into the same trap, however, as she cruised through against Italy’s Lisa Pigato for the loss of just five games.
The American former world No.3 afterwards talked to RG’s Dan Imhoff about the importance of her charitable foundation work which led to her being named last week as a Time 100 honouree for her philanthropy.
Marin Cilic and Novak Djokovic pose for a photo on Wednesday
Former junior No.1 Claire Liu goes into the final round of qualifying as one of the most in-form in the field having dropped just five games in two matches. The 25-year-old explained to Chris Oddo after her win on Wednesday how she is starting to enjoy greater clarity on and off the court.
Tennis fans in Hong Kong will be starting to get excited as Coleman Wong nears the main draw. A 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Czechia’s Zdenek Kolar put the 21-year-old a win away from his Roland-Garros main draw debut.
Another two young men stood out on Wednesday as American graduate Michael Zheng and young Italian Federico Cina joined Wong in the third round.
Nineteen-year-old Cina, whose father used to coach Italian great Roberta Vinci, enjoyed a 6-2, 6-4 win over Aussie Bernard Tomic.
Meanwhile Zheng explained to Alex Sharp that his second round victory had fallen on graduation day back at Columbia University in New York where he has been studying psychology alongside developing his impressive all-round game.
There are 16 matches on Thursday’s schedule when 32 players will battle to get over the final qualifying hurdle. Alix Ramsay picks out her top three tussles.
And ahead of the men’s and women’s draw ceremonies at 2pm on Thursday we chose 10 unseeded danger men and 10 unseeded women who might pose a threat to the higher ranked players when the names come out of the hat.
You can watch the draw ceremony live on the official Roland-Garros YouTube channel as well as the ‘Gael and Friends’ night of tennis, music and entertainment taking place in Court Philippe-Chatrier at 7.30pm on Thursday night.
ROLAND-GARROS
18 May - 7 June 2026
