French Open day five: Jelena Ostapenko finds form, no doubt about Djokovic’s credentials

Denis Shapovalov is out after a five-hour battle with Roberto Carballes Baena but Sofia Kenin, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova are all through

Thu, 01 Oct, 2020 - 21:24

Eleanor Crooks

Former champion Jelena Ostapenko knocked out second seed Karolina Pliskova to get Roland Garros talking about a possible title challenge again.

There is no doubt about Novak Djokovic’s credentials and he raced past Ricardas Berankis, while Stefanos Tsitsipas had a much more comfortable afternoon than in his first-round match.

Denis Shapovalov is out after a five-hour battle with Roberto Carballes Baena but Sofia Kenin, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova are all through.

Picture of the day

The sunshine arrived at Roland Garros on Thursday as Kristyna Pliskova plays a shot (Christophe Ena/AP)

Tweet of the day

Deciding if I can give these balls to my dog to chew 😅 Pumped to get my first win at the French Open👊🏼🇬🇧🍏 #UptheApples pic.twitter.com/4Z5Colb2hc
— Jonny O'Mara (@Jonny_OMara) October 1, 2020

Clothing malfunction

You ok, @GrigorDimitrov?#RG20 #ITVTennis pic.twitter.com/ZHA3vy1i3Q
— ITV Sport (@ITVSport) October 1, 2020

Grigor Dimitrov’s hardest opponent on Thursday was his own trousers.

Fernandez learns from football

Leylah Fernandez is through to the third round in Paris (Christophe Ena/AP)

Last year’s junior champion Leylah Fernandez is making waves already in the senior game and is through to the third round at Roland Garros. She revealed her tactical awareness is partly down to studying football with her coach father Jorge.

The 18-year-old said: “He would always make me see the openings, not only follow the ball or follow the player who has the ball, but see the open spots, see the other players, how they’re moving. I guess that kind of transferred in tennis, too.”

Fallen seeds

Women: Karolina Pliskova (2), Elena Rybakina (14), Sloane Stephens (29)

Men: Denis Shapovalov (9), Dusan Lajovic (22), Jan-Lennard Struff (30)

Who’s up next?

good win today #RG20 pic.twitter.com/svtpEj3rjL
— Dominic Thiem (@domithiem) September 30, 2020

Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal bookend the day on Court Philippe Chatrier on Friday as the third round gets under way.

Thiem faces in-form Norwegian Casper Ruud while Nadal meets Italy’s Stefano Travaglia.

On the women’s side, top seed Simona Halep faces Amanda Anisimova, who she lost to at Roland Garros last year, while Elina Svitolina and Kiki Bertens are the other top seeds in action.