Thursday, May 28, 2026

RG.5- The Other Teenager in Paris



While her fellow Top 20 teens -- Andreeva and Mboko -- have found themselves more often in the spotlight and the winners of bigger titles at this point in their careers, 18-year old Iva Jovic has continued her rise up the tennis ladder.

A year ago in Paris, Jovic gained her MD spot via a wild card, while this year she's all the way up to the #17 seed.

She started 2025 just inside the Top 200, and was at #129 by the time RG rolled around. After cracking the Top 50 after the U.S. Open, she finished at #35, having notched her first tour title at the Guadalajara 500 in September. The Top 20 beckoned after this year's Australian Open, where she reached her maiden QF at a major (and recorded her first Top 10 win).

So far, she's reached just one final in '26 (Hobart), but has two additional SF and four 3rd Round+ results (w/ a 4r in Rome) in 1000-level events this year. Thus, there's still more room to grow in the coming months for the U.S. #4 , currently situated in the top-heavy Bannerette rankings behind a Top 3 that are lined up in order at the WTA's #4, #5 and #6 (Gauff, Pegula and Anisimova) positions, and Jovic seems more than ready to take on still more.



Having already recorded an opening round win for the sixth time in her seven career slam MD appearances with a 1st Round victory over Alex Eala, Jovic went about reaching her second straight major 3rd Round today, eliminating her countrywoman, Starsbourg champ Emma Navarro, by a 6-0/6-3 score. Through two rounds, Jovic has dropped just nine total games, tied for the fifth-least in the women's Final 32.

Of note, last week when these two met it was Navarro who'd prevailed on the court. It was little different this time around.



One of three teenagers still alive in the women's draw, along with the aforementioned two, when Jovic returns to the court she'll be the youngest woman seeking consecutive second week runs at a major on the season.







=DAY 5 NOTES=
...(cue up the walk-in music)




So far, so good *between the lines*, as well, for the #16 seeded Naomi Osaka, whose 7-6(1)/6-4 win today over Donna Vekic takes her into her first 3rd Round in Paris since 2019.



A year ago, Osaka suffered a 1st Round loss to Paula Badosa at Roland Garros, but then managed to at least prove a point (after previously having said she was truly trying to improve her results on the dirt) by advancing to and winning the final of a 125 event in Saint-Malo held during's RG's second week. It was the first clay court final and title of her career. Osaka carried over that momentum into the summer, reaching her biggest post-maternity leave final in Montreal and posting her best major result since 2021 with a SF at the U.S. Open.

In 2026, Osaka has been solid, just not spectacular, with three 1000 4th Round results, including on the dirt in both Madrid and Rome, but was hampered by an abdominal injury that led to her withdrawing from the AO before her 3rd Round match. She missed a month and a half of action before she returned in Indian Wells.

She'll face Iva Jovic next, with the winner going up against the Sabalenka/Kasatkina victor in the Round of 16.

Osaka is 1-3 vs. Top 20 competition in '26 (1-5 since reaching the U.S. semis last summer w/ three straight wins over Top 20 foes in NYC, giving her six straight such wins at the time), but will get another chance at a "quality result" in two days.

...there are five U.S. women in the Final 32, more than any other nation, but coming in second is Ukraine's four, continuing a trend of high-level results for the nation's women this season.

Oleksandra Oliynykova added her name to the list of 3rd Rounders today, outlasting Kimberly Birrell by winning a match-concluding MTB in which the Ukrainian took a 5-1 lead, saw the Aussie tie things up a 5-5, then Oliynykova run off the last five points to win 6-3/0-6/7-6(10-5).



Of course, now we'll be subjected to Oliynykova's side hustle, as her next opponent will be #25 seeded Russian Diana Shnaider, who defeated McCartney Kessler. Shnaider has participated in the Northern Palmyra Trophies exhibition in Saint Petersburg that Oliynykova has wielded as a club against any WTA players by name who ever participated (though, I don't think she's done so with the ATP competitors, which would be interesting since one of them is Daniil Medvedev, who I somehow doubt would take the accusations of being complicit in battlefield deaths as silently as Oliynykova's tour counterparts have).

Oliynykova has already taken to pulling out an underarm serve (she used it today on MP), just like Marta Kostyuk, and two days ago even followed up Kostyuk's showing of photos on her phone in her post-match press conference by doing the same with hers when she got *her* turn at the microphone not long afterward.

So, the wait began. It didn't take long...



...elsewhere, the resurgent Sakk Attack moved on, as Maria Sakkari's 6-7(7)/6-3/6-3 victory today over qualifier Claire Liu sends the Greek into her first slam 3rd Round since Wimbledon '24, and her first at RG since her 2021 run to the semifinals.



...Camila Osorio's clay season wasn't up to her usual standards this year. Her usual annual run in Bogota ended in the 2nd Round, and she went 1-2 in Madrid/Rome. Only a 125 SF in Parma, and then a quick pre-Paris trip to Rabat (she reached the QF), offered her a life preserver the last two weeks.

Apparently, she's taken her second chance to heart, and today played her way into the RG 3rd Round for the first time in her career. It's her best result at a major since her 3rd Round at Wimbledon back in 2021. That run came in just second major MD, *nineteen* slam events ago.

The Colombian took out #14 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the 1st Round, and today outlasted Yulia Putintseva in a 3:30 marathon in the Parisian heat.

It didn't *have* to take so long, as Osorio held three MP at 5-4 in the 2nd set, then rallied from 4-2 down in a TB to have MP #4 at 6-5. Putintseva won the breaker 8-6 to force a 3rd set. The Kazakh took a 5-3 lead in the decider, and served for the match (getting within two points at 30/30). But the sixth break of serve in the first nine games of the 3rd kept Osorio alive.

Putintseva then went on to drop serve again two games later, allowing Osorio to serve out the win, converting MP #5 for a 7-5/6-7(6)/7-5 win that makes her the *second* South American (w/ ARG's Solana Sierra) in the Final 32.



...and, after an exceedingly slow start, the French are *finally* having their say. While one of the new stars of the tournament has turned out to be a *male* French teenager in the men's singles, the Pastries have started to at least collect a few W's of their own in the women's draw (though it'll still take some work for the collective group win total to match the five claimed by Lois Boisson alone last year).

After Elsa Jacquemot and Diane Parry posted 1st Round wins on Tuesday -- sandwiching that day's one-and-out exit from Boisson a year after reaching the semis -- following France's 0-6 1st Round start, both returned to action today. Jacquemot fared well, though ultimately fell to #1 Aryna Sabalenka 7-5/6-2, but it was Parry who claimed the "Last Pastry Standing" honors by reaching her second career RG 3rd Round (2022) with a 6-3/6-4 win over #30 seed Ann Li.



The 23-year old grabbed a 125 title in Paris, and got a 1st Round win in Strasbourg, before heading to the Roland-Garros grounds, and is now 8-1 in her last nine clay matches after beginning her spring on the dirt at 0-4.

...the Final 32 includes women from eighteen different nations, one more than was the case this year in Melbourne, with the U.S. (5), Ukraine (4), Poland (3), Russia (3), Switzerland (3) and the Czech Republic (2) with multiple competitors still alive.

Three (Chwalinska, Korpatsch and Oliynykova) are first-time 3rd Round participants at a major, while eleven are repeats from last year's RG. Sixteen also reached this stage at AO26.

The group is made up of eighteen seeded players, along with eleven unseeded, two qualifiers (Chwalinska, Wang Xiyu) and one in the MD using their protected ranking (Teichmann).

Through two rounds, the woman who's lost the fewest games (not counting Amanda Anisimova, who has lost four but has only played three sets due to Julia Grabher retiring after a love 1st set today) is Viktorija Golubic, with just six. Sorana Cirstea follows with seven, with Poles Iga Swiatek and Chwalinska with eight, and Coco Gauff, Belinda Bencic and Iva Jovic with nine.





...SO SINNER WAS GIVEN PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT THAT, THOUGH IT MIGHT SEEN REASONABLE OUT OF CONTEXT FROM AFAR, HAS NOT BEEN AFFORDED TO "REGULAR" PLAYERS WHO HAVE FOUND THEMSELVES IN THE EXACT SAME SITUATION, YOU SAY? Well, it's not like it's the continuation of a pattern of tennis officials bending over backward to..., oh, wait... nevermind... ON DAY 5:



And, on another note, is it really a "greatest upset" contender if it only happened because the higher-ranked had a medical issue and couldn't move for two and a half sets, basically giving the winner a "soft walkover" the rest of the way?




...Hmmm, Boris Becker, Michael Chang, (w/ a touch of) Yannick Noah. THERE'S A PRECEDENT FOR SOMETHING REMARKABLE HAPPENING... ON DAY 5:




...MEANWHILE... ON DAY 5:



The aftermath of which would double as an "I-Told-You-So" Gala, hosted by the "Numbers Guy."


...THE MOST UNSURPRISING "SURPRISE" OF THE DAY... ON DAY 5:




...SOME WILL CONTINUE TO POINT OUT SOME SEEMINGLY MISSED CALLS ON CLAY EVEN *WITH* ELECTRONIC LINE CALLING... ON DAY 5:

But, at this point, isn't the alternative something close to anarchy?





...UGH... ON DAY 5:




...MEANWHILE... ON DAY 5:

Why do they include the teeny-tiny little flags next to the players' names in the scorebox in the lower left corner of the screen during matches? Maybe in and out of breaks I could see, by why the entire match? Unless it's a super-familiar one, they're really too small to make out, and are totally unimportant to the action outside of the Olympics or BJK. Why not somehow -- at least sometimes -- including the players' current ranks, which are even more noteworthy than their seeding much of the time.

They can't even include a "(Q)" next to a qualifier's name, which is surely of note, but we never have a moment where we don't get the flags. Or *no* flag, which is even more ridiculous.


















Again, don’t be afraid to let your characters define themselves in as uncertain terms as possible to your readers. - Chapter 15 #writing #writersky #fantasywriters #characterwriting #wip #subtextisforcowards

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— CG Stewart 🖋️ 🫜 (@nightoffallengods.com) January 1, 2026 at 1:23 PM


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This fills me with rage lol www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/b...

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— Erik Hane (@erikhane.bsky.social) May 28, 2026 at 7:46 AM

Wrong to the point of malpractice

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— Erik Hane (@erikhane.bsky.social) May 28, 2026 at 7:59 AM









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*RECENT RG "LAST PASTRY STANDING"*
2017 Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic (QF)
2018 Caroline Garcia (4th)
2019 C.Garcia, K.Mladenovic & D.Parry (2nd)
2020 Fiona Ferro & Caroline Garcia (4th)
2021 F.Ferro, C.Garcia, K.Mladenovic, H.Tan (2nd)
2022 A.Cornet, L.Jeanjean & D.Parry (3rd)
2023 O.Dodin, C.Garcia, L.Jeanjean & D.Parry (2nd)
2024 Varvara Gracheva (4th)
2025 Lois Boisson (SF)
2026 Diane Parry (in 3r)





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I just don't think it's unreasonable for art to be the line drawn in the sand regarding AI. Art should be made by humans.

— Cozy Eb (@ebonielon.bsky.social) May 27, 2026 at 10:52 PM


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Carl Sagan, writing in 1995, warned that soon America would be ruled by illiterate elites wielding “awesome technological powers,” and that most people, their brains broken by screens, would be unable to resist. We are living in the nightmare that Sagan foresaw.

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— Boze the Library Owl (@sketchesbyboze.bsky.social) November 8, 2025 at 4:45 PM











TOP QUALIFIER: Claire Liu/USA
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Iga Swiatek/POL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): x
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Oceane Dodin/FRA (PR) def. Kayla Day/USA 6-4/2-6/7-6(15-13) - saved 2 MP in TB, wins on MP #5
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - #7 Elina Svitolina/UKR def. Anna Bondar/HUN 3-6/6-1/7-6(10-3) - Bondar, who def. in Madrid, led 3-1 in 3rd set; Rome champ Svitolina avoids first 1st Rd. loss in RG career)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): x
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #27 Marie Bouzkova/CZE (def. Bronzetti/ITA)
FIRST SEED OUT: #21 Clara Tauson/DEN (1r - lost to Snigur/UKR)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Susan Bandecchi/SUI (1st MD), Marina Bassols Ribera/ESP (2nd MD), Francesca Jones/GBR (7th MD), Oleksandra Oliynykova/UKR (2nd MD), Kaitlin Quevedo/ESP (1st MD), Antonia Ruzic/CRO (3rd MD)
UPSET QUEENS: Switzerland
REVELATION LADIES: Poland (4-0 1st Rd. in consecutive '26 majors)
NATION OF POOR SOULS: FRA (none of 14 in Q-draw reach MD; wild cards go 0-6 year after WC Boisson to SF; 2-7 1st Rd.; Boisson out 1r)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: in 3r: Maja Chwalinska/POL, Wang Xiyu/CHN
LUCKY LOSER WINS: --
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 0-8 in 1st Rd. (including 0-5 FRA)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Jil Teichmann/SUI (in 3r)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Diane Parry (in 3r)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: x
IT "??": x
COMEBACK: Nominees: Sakkari, Teichmann
CRASH & BURN: #5 Jessie Pegula/USA (1r- lost to #83 Birrell, who'd lost 9 con. slam 1r matches and 3-13 career; Pegula led by 6-1/2-1 w/ break; second 1r loss in major since RG20) and #2 Elena Rybakina/KAZ (AO champ out 2r in 3rd set TB to #55 Starodubtseva)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Nominees: Svitolina (1r- trailed Bondar 3-1 in 3rd; avoided first 1r RG loss in 13 app.); Sierra (2r- trailed Paolini 6-4/4-2); Osorio (2r- Putintseva served 5-3 3rd; Osorio had 4 MP 2nd, on #5 in 3rd)
DOUBLES STAR: x
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: Cirstea, Svitolina, Linette, Keys
Mademoiselle/Madame OF THE EVENING: --
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x
Legion de Lenglen: 100th anniversary of Suzanne Lenglen's last "grand slam" titles (RG WS/WD/MX sweep) in 1926 (she'd retire after controversial Wimbledon withdrawal and join professional tour that summer)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: (award given on Henin's birthday, June 1)








All for Day 5. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 6:22 PM 

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