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French Open 2026: Osaka, Sabalenka and Gauff in action on day seven – live | French Open 2026
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Meanwhile if you’re still digesting Novak Djokovic’s defeat last night at the hands of the 19-year-old with the nuclear forehand, Joao Fonseca, here’s Tumaini’s take on the match:
As Novak Djokovic limped back to his chair four hours into a tennis match that had descended into hell, the 24-times grand slam winner did not have much more to give. A two-set lead had unravelled and his 39-year-old body had hit a wall against a shining opponent 20 years his junior. Having reached the umpire’s chair, Djokovic vomited into the red dirt.
Still, nobody has mastered the art of finding victory from a miserable position quite like Djokovic, so everybody inside Court Philippe-Chatrier knew he could always conjure a path through.
It took the most courageous, headstrong performance from João Fonseca to refuse his legendary opponent a way back. The 19-year-old Brazilian held on for a career-defining victory, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5, after 4hr 53min.
While Fonseca is still a teenager this victory was a long time coming considering his talent and the attention that has been on him. Fonseca was asked about the self-belief that underscored the victory during his on-court interview. “I just played,” he said. “I just enjoyed being on court. What a pleasure it was.”
The plaudits were led by his opponent: “I think he, without a doubt, was the better player in important moments in those crucial fourth and fifth,” Djokovic said.
“Some amazing exchanges and points. Yeah, he just found incredible shots, lines. It was just amazing from his side. Obviously not great for me to be facing a player playing in such level, but yeah, I don’t think I’ve done too much wrong with my game. It’s just that he was better.”
This is just the second time Djokovic has lost from two sets up, the other occasion coming in a 2010 French Open quarter-final against Jürgen Melzer. One day earlier, Jannik Sinner’s astounding defeat by Juan Manuel Cerúndolo had transformed the tournament. All eyes turned to Djokovic, who had been waiting for this moment: a grand slam event without Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz.
But Djokovic was simply not in good enough shape to take advantage. He has been injured for much of this year since his epic run to the Australian Open final and although his level here was high for nearly five hours, it was not enough: “Considering I was injured for three months and trying to come back and then, going pretty much straight into a grand slam on this surface that is very demanding and, for me, takes more time to get used to, to find my groove,” he said. “Taking everything in consideration and all the circumstances, I think the level was really good.”
You can read the rest of Tumaini’s report here:
Meanwhile another rising American, Learner Tien, is getting plenty of advice from his coach, the 1989 Roland Garros champion Michael Chang, having been absolutely dominated in the first set against Flavio Cobolli, the Italian 10th seed who has far more experience on clay. Cobolli has charged into a 6-2, 2-0 lead.
Jovic absolutely obliterated her fellow American and the former world No 8 Emma Navarro in the previous round, and rediscovers some of that form under extreme pressure here, reeling off seven points on the spin to cancel out Osaka’s early break in the second set. The 18-year-old holds with her first aces of the match and nudges ahead for 6-7, 3-2.
Today’s singles order of play
A quick rundown of the latest scores and what’s coming up on day seven:
COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIER
10-Flavio Cobolli (Italy) v 18-Learner Tien (US) 5-2
Diane Parry (France) v 6-Amanda Anisimova (US)
4-Coco Gauff (US) v 28-Anastasia Potapova (Austria)
4-Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada) v 31-Brandon Nakashima (US)
COURT SUZANNE LENGLEN
17-Iva Jovic (US) v 16-Naomi Osaka (Japan) 6-7, 1-1
1-Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) v Daria Kasatkina (Australia)
Moise Kouame (France) v Alejandro Tabilo (Chile)
Jaime Faria (Portugal) v 19-Frances Tiafoe (US)
COURT SIMONNE MATHIEU
Maria Sakkari (Greece) v Maja Chwalinska (Poland) 6-1, 3-6, 0-1
Matteo Berrettini (Italy) v Francisco Comesana (Argentina)
9-Victoria Mboko (Canada) v 19-Madison Keys (US)
COURT 14
25-Francisco Cerundolo (Argentina) v Zachary Svajda (US) 3-6, 4-6, 1-2
22-Anna Kalinskaya (Russia) v Camila Osorio (Colombia)
Matteo Arnaldi (Italy) v Raphael Collignon (Belgium)
COURT 7
25-Diana Shnaider (Russia) v Oleksandra Oliynykova (Ukraine) 2-4
Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Argentina) v Martin Landaluce (Spain)
Francisco Cerundolo was upstaged in the second round by his younger brother Juan Manuel, who of course took out an ailing Jannik Sinner, and he’s being totally upstaged by the 23-year-old Californian Zachary Svajda today, trailing now by two sets to love, 6-3, 6-4. Svajda’s dad died last autumn and he didn’t pick up a racket for a while after, but he’s found a way to channel his grief this year and, on his French Open debut, needs only one more set for a first appearance in the last 16 of a slam.
Osaka wins the first-set tie-break 7-5 against Jovic
… Jovic surrenders another point on serve to trail by a possibly insurmountable 5-2, which turns into 6-3 – so another three set points for Osaka, to add to the two she had in the previous game. Jovic saves the first in style, with a stinging serve out wide. The teenager thinks she’s nailed an ace down the T on the second SP, but it’s out. Osaka absolutely jumps on the second serve … but then thwacks into the net on her next shot. She still has one more SP though … and drills an inside-in forehand down the line! Osaka secures an absorbing first set and is a set away from what would remarkably be her first appearance in the French Open fourth round.
With a flurry of fans fluttering in the stands (the hand-held kind I should stress, not the people), with temperatures already hitting 30C at midday in Paris, Osaka takes the opening point of the breaker. The former world No 1 then grabs the first mini-break for 3-1, and backs it up with the quickest serve of the match for 4-1. They change ends at 4-2 …
One of the most intriguing questions going into today was how Osaka would deal with the precocious talents of the 18-year-old Jovic, and right now the answer is very well. Osaka brings up her first set point at 6-5 and advantage on Jovic’s serve … but a rare backhand error follows. A second set point soon arrives … this time Osaka’s forehand misfires. From there Jovic escapes with a hold. So it’s tie-break time!
Apologies for the sparse updates for the past hour – I’ve been having technical issues so Niall kindly added a couple of entries while spinning several other plates. So … what’s the state of play? Jovic is serving to stay in the first set against the Eiffel Tower sorry Osaka, trailing 6-5; Cerundolo is a set down, 6-3, but 3-2 up on serve in the second; and Sakkari is zooming through against Chwalinska, leading 6-1, 2-1.
Osaka breaks back to level the first set at 4-4, while Sakkari has wrapped up the first set against Chwalinska, winning it 6-1.
Elsewhere, another men’s seed in trouble as Francisco Cerundolo (No 25) trails US player Zachary Svajda by a set. Coming up shortly on Chatrier, it’s 10th seed Flavio Cobolli against Learner Tien.
Iva Jovic v Naomi Osaka is under way on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, and it’s the former with an early break, leading 3-2 in the first set. Maria Sakkari has also opened up an early lead; she’s 4-1 up on Poland’s Maja Chwalinska.
Preamble
Bonjour et bienvenue au jour sept de notre couverture de Roland Garros 2026!
After Novak Djokovic’s departure in the match of the tournament against the 19-year-old Brazilian sensation João Fonseca last night, opportunity knocks louder than ever before for the remaining men, with a first-time grand slam champion guaranteed next Sunday.
Today the players in the top half of the draw get the chance to underline their credentials, and with a huge Jannik Sinner-sized hole in that section, along with the exits of Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Bublik, the highest-ranked man in action is Félix Auger-Aliassime, and the fourth seed doesn’t play until tonight.
It means Sinner’s conqueror Juan Manuel Cerundolo gets another day in the sun, as does his brother Francisco, but a bigger buzz surrounds the 17-year-old overnight, hometown hero Moise Kouame, who will have Roland Garros rocking when he takes on Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo. The 10th seed Flavio Cobolli against the rising American Learner Tien could be tasty too, while Frances Tiafoe and the resurgent Matteo Berrettini are also in third-round action.
The leading names today are undoubtedly on the women’s side, which is still stacked with slam champions past and present: Coco Gauff continues her title defence, Aryna Sabalenka plays the former semi-finalist Daria Kasatkina, while Naomi Osaka and Madison Keys will be hoping to avoid the same fate as Djokovic when they take on the stupendously talented teens Iva Jovic and Victoria Mboko respectively. Amanda Anisimova plays too.
L’action commence: 11h à Paris/10am BST. Allons-y!
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Spain v Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026
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In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
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