French Open: Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka join Novak Djokovic, Serena and Venus Williams in action
Wednesday 1 June 2016 17:09, UK
With almost two days to catch up on, the French Open is set for a bumper Wednesday with Andy Murray against home favourite Richard Gasquet the headline act.
Organisers will hope the rain stays away as they attempt to get the schedule back on track but while the forecast is better than Monday's washout, there may only be a few more windows of opportunity than Tuesday, so once again Courts 1 and 2 have been drafted in to help get some of the backlog cleared.
Novak Djokovic will aim to continue his turnaround when he resumes against Roberto Bautista Agut. The world no 1 leads 3-6 6-4 4-1 as he continues his quest for a first ever French Open title.
The 11-time major winner knows his side of the draw has opened up following the withdrawal of Rafa Nadal and Djokovic will hope there is not too much hanging around as he bids to make the semi-finals for a sixth straight year.
Djokovic and Bautista Agut will follow Serena Williams' outstanding fourth-round match against Ukraine's 18th seed Elina Svitolina, which is scheduled to get proceedings underway on Philippe-Chatrier Court.
Serena's older sister Venus will also be in action when she faces Switzerland's world No 9 Timea Bacsinszky in the first match on Suzanne-Lenglen - should the sisters win, they will move one step closer to a potential last-four meeting.
The other men's fourth-round matches to be completed include Dominic Thiem against Marcel Granollers (6-2 6-7).
Defending champion Stan Wawrinka will face the unheralded Albert Ramos-Vinolas in their quarter-final while the last two matches slated for the show courts will be the women's last-eight encounters between Sam Stosur and Tsvetana Pironkova and Shelby Rogers and Garbine Muguruza.
One to Watch
Andy Murray is one round ahead of Djokovic and the favourite to advance from the bottom half of the draw. His mouthwatering quarter-final with the last remaining Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, is third on Chatrier.
Murray has won the last five meetings and leads the head-to-head 7-3 - on clay, it is 2-1 in Murray's favour, with Murray's two clay-court victories coming in their two Roland Garros encounters.
On both occasions, the world No 2 had to come from behind, coming from a set down in 2012 and two sets down in 2010. Murray might need to muster those reserves again, as Gasquet has been inspired throughout the week and has a dreamy backhand that sent the Philippe-Chatrier crowd into raptures with a superb four-set win over fifth seed Kei Nishikori.
Surprise in Store
David Ferrer, the 2013 French Open finalist, is seeded 11th as he slides down the rankings as age and injuries perhaps begin to catch up with him.
But he has been in good form this week, dropping only one set so far and, up against Tomas Berdych, the heavy conditions could favour Ferrer, who does lead the head-to-head 8-6. But the Czech, who is seeded seventh in Paris, has won three of the last four meetings - the pair will resume on serve with Ferrer leading 2-1.
Also worth a watch will be the fourth-round contest between David Goffin and Ernests Gulbis.
Gulbis is now 27 and given the vast nature of his talent has underachieved hugely but he has been in impressive form at Roland Garros, where he was a semi-finalist in 2014. He leads 3-0 after the match against Goffin got underway on Tuesday.
Brit Watch
Other than Andy Murray, there is another Brit still standing at Roland Garros - and as usual, it is his brother Jamie.
Jamie's men's doubles campaign ended on Sunday with defeat to Leander Paes and Marcin Matkowski but he was back in action later in the day in the mixed doubles to seal a place in the quarter-finals.
He and partner Hao-Ching Chan are top seeds and they face Andrea Hlavackova and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
In Case You Missed It
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic dodged the showers on Tuesday, Djokovic taking to the court with an umbrella and Murray looking out from the bleachers as the rain set in.
