The French Open nears the end of its first week at Roland Garros as the third continues on Saturday with defending champions Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff looking to book their place in the final -16.
But Elena Rybakina has withdrawn from the tournament ahead of her match against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo. The Rome champion looked to be leading the challenge to dethrone Swiatek in Paris but pulled out of the French Open due to illness in a shock announcement on Saturday morning.
Cameron Norrie’s campaign ended in disappointing fashion with a straight-sets loss to Lorenzo Musetti on Friday, while Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka continued to navigate off-court controversies at Roland Garros to advance to the fourth round.
Djokovic beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina amid the fall-out of his decision to write “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” on the camera after his first-round victory, as the Serbian continued his bid to win a men’s record 23rd grand slam.
Sabalenka resumed her bid for consecutive grand slam titles with a straight-sets win against Kamilla Rakhimova. It came after she was confronted by a Ukrainian journalist following her second-round win and afterwards, Sabalenka did not undertake her usual media duties citing mental health concerns.
Follow live scores and updates from the French Open below:
French Open latest scores and updates
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Where can I watch the French Open 2023?
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French Open order of play as third round begins
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Elena Rybakina out of Roland Garros after withdrawing from third-round match
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Novak Djokovic beats Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a hard-fought match
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Cameron Norrie was knocked out by Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti
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Aryna Sabalenka opts out of French Open media duties after tense exchange
French Open 2023: Latest scores
11:28 , Jamie Braidwood
Casper Ruud and Zhizhen Zhang trade breaks at the start of the second set. The Norwegian broke first to get in front but looks short of confidence and dumps a simple forehand into the net as Zhang levels.
Thiago Seyboth Wildwho is aiming to reach the fourth round after beating Daniil Medvedev in his opening match, is a set up against Yoshihito Nishioka.
Fourth seed Elena Rybakina was forced to withdraw from the French Open
11:15 , Jamie Braidwood
Elena Rybakina has been forced to withdraw from the French Open due to illness, shortly before her third-round match.
The Kazakhstani 23-year-old, who was born in Russia, was due to face unseeded Spanish opponent Sara Sorribes Tormo on Philippe-Chartrier Court to open play on Saturday morning.
While Rybakina was out on the clay surface an hour earlier, doing some warm-ups and practice shots, news broke just before the allotted start time that she was withdrawing from the tournament, handing a walkover to Sorribes Tormo – meaning a first-ever appearance in the round of 16 for her.
In a short press conference confirming her departure, Rybakina revealed she had been suffering over the past 24 hours since beating Linda Noskova in the second round on Thursday.
“I didn’t feel well yesterday, I had a high fever, headaches and I didn’t sleep. Today it is the same. I’m far from being 100 per cent,” she said.
Fourth seed Elena Rybakina was forced to withdraw from the French Open
French Open 2023: Updated order of play
11:06 , Jamie Braidwood
After Rybakina’s withdrawal, Holger Rune’s match against Genaro Alberto Olivieri will now open the action on Philippe Chatier from 1pm BST.
Court Philippe Chatrier
From 13:00
Holger Rune vs Genaro Alberto Olivieri
Iga Swiatek vs Xin Yu Wang
Not before 19:15
Alexander Zverev vs Frances Tiafoe
Court Suzanne Lenglen
From 10:00
Zhizhen Zhang vs Casper Ruud
Mirra Andreeva vs Coco Gauff
Francisco Cerundolo vs Taylor Fritz
Olga Danilovic vs Oz Jabeur
Court Simonne Mathieu
From 10:00
Yoshihito Nishioka vs Thiago Seyboth Wild
Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Beatriz Haddad Maia
Bianca Andreescu vs Lesia Tsurenko
Daniel Altmaier vs Grigor Dimitrov
French Open 2023: Latest scores
11:03 , Jamie Braidwood
Set! Zhizhen Zhang breaks Casper Ruud for the second time and then serves it out to take the opening set against the number four seed. Ruud looks a little out of sorts but Zhang is doing well to force the errors.
French Open 2023 highlights: Jessica Pegula and Andrey Rublev crash out
10:56 , Jamie Braidwood
World number three Jessica Pegula became the highest-ranked player in the women’s draw to exit the tournament after a 6-1 6-3 loss to Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the third round, while Italian Lorenzo Sonego upset seventh seed Andrey Rublev 5-7 0 -6 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3 to reach the fourth round of the French Open for a second time.
French Open 2023 highlights:
10:44 , Jamie Braidwood
Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-2 6-2 6-3 in a match lasting just over two hours to book a place in the fourth round.
French Open 2023: Elena Rybakina out of Roland Garros
10:43 , Jamie Braidwood
BREAKING! Elena Rybakina has withdrawn from the French Open ahead of her third-round match against Sara Sorribes Tormo. The Rome champion looked to be in such strong form at Roland Garros but is out of the tournament!
More details when we get them.
French Open 2023: Latest scores
10:40 , Jamie Braidwood
Casper Ruud, last year’s men’s finalist, is down a break to Zhizhen Zhang and doesn’t look too happy on Suzanne-Lenglen as a chance to break back comes and goes. Zhang has started quite impressively.
French Open 2023 highlights: Carlos Alcaraz crushes Denis Shapovalov
10:36 , Jamie Braidwood
World number one Carlos Alcaraz eased past 26th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada 6-1 6-4 6-2, claiming victory in two hours and 10 minutes as he breezed into the fourth round.
French Open 2023
10:24 , Jamie Braidwood
Aryna Sabalenka did not undertake her usual media duties at the French Open citing mental health concerns after her third-round win over Kamilla Rakhimova.
The second seed was involved in a tense exchange with a Ukrainian journalist on Wednesday over her previous support for Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.
“For many months now I have answered these questions at tournaments and have been very clear in my feelings and my thoughts,” said Sabalenka.
“These questions do not bother me after my matches. I know that I have to provide answers to the media on matters not related to my tennis or my matches but, on Wednesday, I did not feel safe in the press conference.
“I should be able to feel safe when I do interviews with the journalists after my matches. For my own mental health and well-being, I have decided to take myself out of this situation today, and the tournament has supported me in this decision.”
By Eleanor Crooks
Aryna Sabalenka cites mental health after avoiding French Open media duties
French Open 2023
10:14 , Jamie Braidwood
Cameron Norrie criticized his own attitude and performance after his French Open campaign ended with a straight-sets loss to Lorenzo Musetti in the third round.
It is the third year in a row the British number one has fallen in the last 32, and he only managed to mount any real challenge in the third set before going down 6-1 6-2 6-4.
There is certainly no disgrace in losing to 21-year-old Musetti, who is ranked only five places below Norrie and whose best surface is clay, but the 14th seed was hugely disappointed by the manner of what is one of his worst grand slam losses in terms of scoreline.
The result, meanwhile, brought an end to British singles hopes at a tournament where only three players even made the starting line.
“I came out very flat and I’m disappointed with the attitude in the first couple of sets,” said a very downbeat Norrie.
“It was very, very slow conditions, very heavy, and I was not prepared for it to be that slow. For me, I can play bad and everything, but I was just very flat and disappointed to have a performance like that.
“The first two sets he didn’t really do too much and he was up two sets to love. For a player like myself, I can’t afford to give that much of an edge.
“There is no excuse to play the level that I did today. I missed so many easy short balls and I lost so many points in a couple of shots where usually I can win a lot of those.
“I didn’t come prepared. I was changing rackets throughout the match. It was a bit colder today but I’m good enough not to let that bother me.”
French Open 2023
10:05 , Jamie Braidwood
Novak Djokovic admitted he is dealing with a number of physical problems after fighting off a terrific challenge from Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to reach the fourth round of the French Open for a 14th consecutive year.
The 7-6 (4) 7-6 (5) 6-2 victory took three hours and 36 minutes, with Djokovic twice breaking down in the first set and being forced to save a set point in the second.
The 22-time grand-slam champion looked unsettled in windy conditions, while he called the trainer before the third set to have his left thigh massaged, but, as he so often does, he found a way to come out on top.
Asked about the medical time-out, Djokovic said: “We don’t have much time to start to name the many injuries I have, and the list is quite long.
“I still kept on playing. These are the circumstances that you, as a professional athlete, have to deal with. Accept it. Sometimes you need help from (a) physio during the match. Sometimes you need pills. Sometimes you need help from the gods or angels, or whoever.
“The reality for me nowadays is that my body is responding differently than it did a few years ago. I managed to finish the match.”
French Open order of play – Saturday 3 June
10:02 , Jamie Braidwood
Court Philippe Chatrier
From 10:45
Elena Rybakina vs Sara Sorribes Tormo
Holger Rune vs Genaro Alberto Olivieri
Iga Swiatek vs Xin Yu Wang
Not before 19:15
Alexander Zverev vs Frances Tiafoe
Court Suzanne Lenglen
From 10:00
Zhizhen Zhang vs Casper Ruud
Mirra Andreeva vs Coco Gauff
Francisco Cerundolo vs Taylor Fritz
Olga Danilovic vs Oz Jabeur
Court Simonne Mathieu
From 10:00
Yoshihito Nishioka vs Thiago Seyboth Wild
Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Beatriz Haddad Maia
Bianca Andreescu vs Lesia Tsurenko
Daniel Altmaier vs Grigor Dimitrov
How to watch the French Open 2023
10:01 , Jamie Braidwood
You can watch the French Open live on Eurosport in the UK. The action will be broadcast on Eurosport’s TV channels, or fans can tune into Discovery+ to stream the tournament, where an Entertainment & Sport pass is available for either £6.99/month or £59.99/year.
Watch every moment of Roland-Garros LIVE and exclusive on discovery+Eurosport and Eurosport App
French Open 2023
10:00 , Jamie Braidwood
The French Open nears the end of its first week at Roland Garros as the third continues on Saturday with Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina among those looking to book their place in the last -16.
Defending champion Swiatek takes on Wang Xinyu of China while Rybakina, who is so far leading the challenge to dethrone Swiatek in Paris, faces Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo. The match of the day, however, is a contest between last year’s finalist Coco Gauff and 16-year-old breakout star Mirra Andreeva.
Cameron Norrie’s campaign ended in disappointing fashion with a straight-sets loss to Lorenzo Musetti on Friday, while Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka continued to navigate off-court controversies at Roland Garros to advance to the fourth round.
Djokovic beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina amid the fall-out of his decision to write “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” on the camera after his first-round victory, as the Serbian continued his bid to win a men’s record 23rd grand slam.
Sabalenka resumed her bid for consecutive grand slam titles with a straight-sets win against Kamilla Rakhimova. It came after she was confronted by a Ukrainian journalist following her second-round win and afterwards, Sabalenka did not undertake her usual media duties citing mental health concerns.
Follow live scores and updates from the French Open with our live blog throughout the day.