Roland-Garros: Soaring Temperatures Welcome Players, Fans On Opening Day

PARIS/WASHINGTON, May 24, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

The French Open, chronologically the second of the four majors each year, dates back to 1891 – 135 years ago – but it didn’t become a Grand Slam event until 1925. Now celebrating its 125th edition overall and the 59th in the Open Era this year, Opening Day at Roland-Garros featured 20 men’s and 20 women’s singles matches across the grounds. It took place under sunny, 30-degree Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit) conditions that continued to rise by late afternoon, making it was a record for highest first-day temperature at the French Open.

Zverev beats the heat, Bonzi to advance

In 2024, current World No. 3 Alexander Zverev advanced to his first final on Parisian clay, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets. The 29-year-old German No. 1 from Hamburg, who is still chasing for his first Grand Slam title, came into his first-round match against France’s Benjamin Bonzi Sunday afternoon with a 38-10 lifetime win-loss record at Roland-Garros. He was looking to build upon his quarterfinal finish last year as he began his 11th appearance in Paris.

While Zverev advanced to the semifinals at three of four clay events he’s played in this season – including a run to the Madrid final – on the other side of the net, the 95th-ranked Bonzi was seeking the biggest win of his career to reach the second round of Roland-Garros for the first time since 2020.

By the end of their two-hour, nine-minute match on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the second-seeded Zverev put together a solid performance to beat Bonzi, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. In the second round, the second-seeded Zverev will face No. 43 Tomas Machac of Czechia, who took out No. 40 Zizou Bergs of Belgium, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Zverev defeated Machac during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“Very good start to the tournament. It’s always nice to start with a straight-sets win, especially against Benjamin, who can cause a lot of problems to top players,” Zverev said during his on-court interview. “All around, I think a good performance that I can build on. I have to build on it, but very happy with the start.”

Zverev hit 37 winners to 31 unforced errors, converted five of 10 break points against Bonzi, faced just two break points and outpointed him 98-71.

“In five-set matches in Grand Slams, there are always going to be ups and downs, especially in the beginning of tournaments,” Zverev added. “You always have to stay focused, you always have to come back to yourself, play your best tennis. When he broke me in the second set, I broke him straight away.”

With Zverev’s 39th career Roland-Garros match win secured, only three active men have more than him: Novak Djokovic (101), Stan Wawrinka (46) and Gaël Monfils (40).

Bencic wins in Paris for first time since 2022

World No. 11 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland is no stranger to Paris. While she’s making her eighth appearance in the French Open, it’s her first since 2023, where she fell in the opening round to lucky loser Elina Avanesyan of Armenia, and first time back to Roland-Garros since becoming a mother.

In Sunday afternoon’s opener on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the 11th-seeded Bencic won her Roland-Garros first-round match over 98th-ranked Austrian qualifier Sonja Kraus, 6-2, 6-3, in one hour and 30 minutes to advance to the second round against No. 63 Caty McNally of the United States. McNally advanced over 100th-ranked Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

At Roland-Garros, Bencic has twice reached the third round, in 2019 and 2022. This time, this Bencic is expected to go further. Against Kraus, Bencic won 78 percent (25 of 32) of her first-serve points, hit 23 winners, made 14 unforced errors and converted four of eight break points. She outpointed Kraus 69-54.

“Of course, as it’s the first round of a Grand Slam, I was a little bit nervous, a little bit unsure,” Bencic said during her on-court interview. “But it was so beautiful to play on this court. I was really excited when I saw the schedule.”

Now that Bencic has a few days off until she faces McNally in the next round, the Swiss star was asked how she might spend her free time with her husband and daughter. Bencic smiled as she responded: “Maybe we will find a lot of playgrounds, maybe go into the city a little bit. I’m open for recommendations if anyone has any.”

French men looking for first quarterfinalist since 2016

There are 21 Frenchmen among the 128 players in the Roland Garros men’s singles main draw, tied for second-most in the Open Era behind 24 in 1968. Among them are three seeded players: No. 22 Arthur Rinderknech, No. 30 Corentin Moutet and No. 32 Ugo Humbert.

Collectively, they will attempt to become the first French men’s quarterfinalist at Roland-Garros since Richard Gasquet in 2016, first semifinalist since Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in 2015 and first finalist since Henri Leconte in 1988. Yannick Noah, the 1983 French Open champion, remains the only Frenchman to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires in the Open Era.

Around the French Open

• In the biggest surprise of the first day, 148th-ranked wild card Nishesh Basavareddy of the United States upset fellow American World No. 9 Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-7 (9), 6-1, in three hours and 22 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Fritz returned to the tour earlier this week after being sidelined due to a knee injury since losing to Jiri Lehecka in the ATP Masters 1000 Miami fourth round in March.

However, the 21-year-old Basavareddy, appearing in his first Roland-Garros main draw match, was up to the challenge. He denied Fritz his first clay win of the season and 350th win of his career, while it was the young American’s first Top-10 win. It was also the first time an American had secured a win over a Top-10 opponent at Roland-Garros since Jan-Michael Gambill in 2000.

Basavareddy finished with the victory by outpointing Fritz 151-138. He hit 51 winners, made 36 unforced errors and converted three of six break points. Fritz totaled 71 winners but also committed 48 unforced errors as well as 52 forced errors.

• World No. 8 and eighth seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia needed just 71 minutes to advanced past 200th-ranked French wild card Fiona Ferro, 6-3, 6-3, on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Andreeva, who leads the WTA Tour in wins on clay this season with 16, hit 19 winners, converted four of six break points and outpointed Ferro 61-44. The victory was her 30th overall and it ties her for the WTA Tour lead with Elena Rybakina.

“When I saw the draw that I’m going to play against Fiona, she’s a very difficult opponent to play against and I’ve practised with her a lot a couple of years ago,” Andreeva said during her on-court interview. “The last match that we played against each other was three years ago and I won in three sets, but that was an unbelievable battle.

“So I knew that obviously [the French crowd was] also going to do everything to give her a lot of support and she played great today and I’m just super happy with the win.”

• World No. 15 Karen Khachanov of Russia, seeded 13th, powered his way past 135-ranked French wild card Arthur Gea, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-0, in two hours and 38 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen to advance to the second round against No. 81 Marco Trungelliti of Argentina, who eliminated 147th-ranked French qualifier Kyrian Jacquet, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

• No. 26 seed Hailey Baptiste of the United States saved a pair of match points against 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova and went on to beat the 41st-ranked Czech, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (6), 6-2, in two hours and 53 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Baptiste hit 35 winners to offset 47 unforced errors and converted three of eight break points. She outpointed Krejcikova 113-101. Next, Baptiste will face 148th-ranked Chinese qualifier Wang Xiyu, who advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Danka Kovinic of Montenegro.

• No. 28 seed Joao Fonseca of Brazil advanced to the second round after defeating 241st-ranked French qualifier Luka Pavlovic, 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-2, in two hours and 14 minutes on Court Simonne-Mathieu. Fonseca hit 24 winners, made 19 unforced errors, converted five of nine break points and outpointed Pavlovic 107-80 in collecting his 11th victory of the season.

During his on-court interview afterward, Fonseca gave praise to the many Brazilian fans who came out to watch his first-round match. “It’s just crazy that even though we’re in France playing against a French guy, a lot of people cheering and supporting,” he said. “I see a lot of flags. I see a lot of t-shirts. Thank you so much to everyone who came and made this crowd loud. Obrigado.”

• The first completed match at this year’s French Open was won by women’s No. 27 seed Marie Bouzkova of Czechia, who defeated 172nd-ranked qualifier Lucia Bronzetti of Italy, 6-3, 6-1, in 69 minutes.

• By contrast, the longest match of the day clocked at four hours and five minutes on Court 14, a five-setter won by No. 21 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain. He defeated No. 87 Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. It was the Spaniard’s 19th five-setter of his career in Grand Slam competition. Since 2020, only American Taylor Fritz and Khachanov (20 each) have played more.

A total of 320 points were contested in the tournament’s first five-set match of the Parisian fortnight. Davidovich Fokina finished with 77 winners to 90 unforced errors and converted nine of 28 break points. He was outpointed 161-159.

Next, Davidovich Fokina will face No. 60 Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina, who beat 122nd-ranked Spanish qualifier Pablo Llamas Ruiz, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-0.

• A couple of members of the Next Gen ATP Finals class of 2025 won their openers: No. 37 Alexander Blockx of Belgium advanced with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over 109th-ranked lucky loser Coleman Wong of Hong Kong in an hour and 43 minutes on Court 8, while No. 72 Dino Prizmic of Croatia defeated American qualifier Michael Zheng, ranked 146th, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3, in one hour and 45 minutes on Court 9.

• Last year’s Roland-Garros junior girls’ champion, 90th-ranked Lilli Tagger of Austria, lost her first-round match in the women’s main draw to No. 32 seed Wang Xinyu of China, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, in two hours and eight minutes on Court 9. Meanwhile, No. 39 Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, who had played only one match on clay this season while recovering from a lingering post-viral illness, bowed in the opening round to 68th-ranked Solana Sierra of Argentina, 6-0, 7-6 (4), in one hour and 45 minutes on Court 13. Raducanu, who committed 42 unforced errors, was outpointed by Sierra 80-62.

• The first retirement of the tournament was suffered by Canada’s Gabriel Diallo, who lasted 67 minutes against No. 82 James Duckworth of Australia before retiring down 6-3, 4-1. The 49th-ranked Diallo has recently been dealing with a lower back issue.

• The first women’s seed to lose in the draw was No. 21 Clara Tauson of Denmark, who lost to No. 93 Daria Snigur of Ukraine, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, in two hours and six minutes on Court 12.

• The first men’s seed to fall in the draw was No. 23 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, who lost to No. 51 Nuno Borges of Portugal, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, in two hours and 25 minutes on Court 13.

Sunday’s Roland-Garros results

Monday’s Roland-Garros order of play

By the numbers

Three-time Roland-Garros champion Novak Djokovic, who is the men’s all-time Grand Slam title leader with 24, will break the men’s record for most major main draw appearances when he steps on Court Philippe-Chatrier Sunday evening for his first-round match against France’s 83rd-ranked Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

It’s Djokovic’s 10th night session match – most of any player – and he’s 8-1. His only night session loss was in 2022 to Rafael Nadal during the quarterfinal round.

The 39-year-old Djokovic, who is seeded third, will be playing in his 82nd Grand Slam event, which includes making his 22nd-consecutive Roland-Garros appearance. The World No. 4 from Serbia has reached at least the quarterfinals in 19 of his last 20 French Open editions – missing just in 2009, when he reached the third round.

“Quotable …”

“I’m incredibly proud of myself today. I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my career. This morning, 100 meters away from my parents’ house, a missile destroyed the building.

“It was a very difficult morning. I didn’t know how this match was going to turn around for me. I didn’t know how I would handle it. I’ve been crying part of the morning.

“I don’t want to talk about myself.

“I’m very pleased to be in the second round, but all of my thoughts and all my heart go to the people of Ukraine today. Thank you so much for coming out. Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine).

“I think it’s important to keep going. My biggest example is Ukrainian people. I woke up in the morning today and I looked at all these people who woke up and kept living their lives, kept helping people who are in need. I knew a lot of Ukrainian flags would be here today and a lot of Ukrainian people would come out and support. My friends from Ukraine came as well. Very happy to have them here. Not much I can say.”

– No. 15 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, during her emotional remarks on-court following her 6-2, 6-3 first-round win over Oksana Selekhmeteva of Spain. The recent Madrid champion, who is 13-0 on clay this season, will face American Katie Volynets, who was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over French wild card Clara Burrel, in the second round.

Roland-Garros: Soaring Temperatures Welcome Players, Fans On Opening Day

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