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\u201cI was super happy inside,\u201d says Juan Manuel Cer\u00fandolo on TNT Sports of what was apparently a subdued celebration after victory against the fatigue-stricken Jannik Sinner<\/a> earlier. \u201cReally glad for the win, I feel bad for him cramping up, it\u2019s not something you want for any player.<\/p>\n \u201cI was really nervous, I was going home at 5-1, and suddenly it was 5-4 \u2026 I moved him around the court, tried to stay calm \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Au revoir Daniel, and thanks.<\/p>\n Sabalenka is 5-1 up now in the second set v Jacquemot.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Righto, that\u2019s me done for today. Luke McLaughlin will keep you updated on the rest of the session \u2013 Sabalenka now leads Jacquemot 7-5 4-1, while Auger-Aliassime is 4-1 up on Burruchaga in the fourth. Peace.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Gauff says it was a tough, physical match that tested her patience. She praises Sherif as a player who never gives away an easy point, saying she hit a lot of balls from above shoulder-height so hopes her team can see her arms looking muscular.<\/p>\n Then, when Julien Benneteau says she\u2019s got expectations, she corrects him, saying there are none and she\u2019s just having fun; I totally get why she\u2019s saying that, but am less sure she truly believes it.<\/p>\n Finally, it\u2019s pointed out that various of her staff are French, so she says she\u2019s been coming to Paris since she was a kid and it\u2019s been her favourite city since the age of 10.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Coco Gauff (4) beats Mayar Sherif 6-3 6-2<\/p>\n A sensational backhand, spirited flat down the line, and Gauff is through, the 3 and 2 score not reflecting how well Sherif played. Next for the champ: Boulter or Potapova.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Gauff wants this did, racing to a 5-2 40-0 second-set lead. The champ is nearly there.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Auger-Aliassime is into this now, raising break point and hammering a forehand return for the winner which puts him up 2-1 3-1. The highest seed left in the top half of the draw is looking good.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Elsewhere, Keys is nearly there, leading Ruzic 6-4 5-1; Nakashima and Van Assche are level at 1-1 in a first-set tiebreaker; and Darderi leads Comesana 6-7 6-4 1-0.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n And of course Sabalenka holds then, up 30-40, unleashes three terrifying forehands, the last of them an overhead the reverberations of which have been traced as far as Ulaanbaatar; she leads 7-5 2-0.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A leaping forehand down the line gives Gauff two break points \u2013 just as Sabalenka saves three \u2013 but Sherif has serious moxie, closing to deuce \u2026 before succumbing. Gauff leads 6-3 2-1, and if she can consolidate, victory will feel close.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n I don\u2019t suppose we should be surprised to see Gauff break Sherif again for 6-3 2-1 \u2026 nor that she\u2019s now 0-40 down. It\u2019s not often we have so brilliant a player with so poor a serve \u2013 and we\u2019ve watched her try all sorts to sort it over the years. But it remains a weakness, and Sherif secures another break-back with a barrage of backhands, then a gorgeous winner, her wrist breaking to get the ball flat and cross.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Hold tight Mayar Sherif! At 3-6 0-1 with a break, she looked done for, but she broke back \u2026 while Sabalenka holds for 6-5, then makes 15-40 to raise two set points. And she only needs one, Jacquemot doing too little with her opening groundstroke following a fine serve, and her backhand slice then falls wide, ruining 57 minutes of good work. Sabalenka leads 7-5.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Serving art 5-6 in the third, Burruchaga finds himself down 0-40, rushes a forehand, and Auger-Aliassime leads 4-6 6-0 7-5. It\u2019s a long way back from here for the son of the winning goalscorer in the 1986 World Cup final.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Sabalenka holds for 5-4 then, at 30-40, earns a set point, racing in to retrieve a drop with so many options as to where her winner should go. Line looks easiest but she opts for cross \u2026 and hits the tape. That\u2019s a big missed opportunity, and from deuce, Jacquemot closes out, a lovely forehand drop too good and the crowd duly noised up. She\u2019s not only enjoying this, she\u2019s carrying herself like she thinks she can win.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.07 EDT<\/p>\n Gauff breaks Sherif in the first game of the second set and it seems inconceivable that she lose from here. The question really is whether she\u2019s playing well enough to retain her title, or if that looks like a level she can hit in the next week; I\u2019m leaning no.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Jacquemot, whose look is a bit like the murderer in an Agatha Christie, noises up the crowd after making 40-15, and though Sabalenka annihilates an overhead to make things dicier, the home favourite closes out to level set one at 4-4.<\/p>\n Photograph: Aur\u00e9lien Morissard\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n And of course, while I was focused over there, Auger-Aliassime broke Burruchaga back over here, so those two are level at 1-1 4-4, and look to be settling in for a longun.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Gauff serves out to love for a 6-3 first set, finishing it with an ace, and she\u2019s looking good \u2013 though, to give Sherif her due, she made it difficult for a bit.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Back with the one like Felix, he\u2019s been broken in set three and Burruchaga leads 6-4 0-6 3-4.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n On Chatrier, Jaquemot has made a decent start, level at 3-3 with Sabalenka while, on Lenglen, all Sherif\u2019s good work looks to be for nowt. Gauff waves a forehand slice, she can\u2019t respond, and that\u2019s a second break for 5-3.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Maria Sakkari beats Claire Liu (7)6-7 6-3 6-3<\/p>\n I\u2019m delighted for Sakkari, who could never produce her best form at slams. But she\u2019s playing well here and faces Chwalinska next.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Up 3-2, Gauff earns a break point, but we don\u2019t play it for a while, someone in the crowd having taken a turn. Then when we get back under way, Sherif targets the forehand \u2013 as you would \u2013 with loopy top-spinners, comes in off a floaty squash-shot, and punishes the volley.<\/p>\n But when Sherif nets a forehand, then fails to finish the next point despite various opportunities so to do, Gauff thwacks a backhand cross on to the tootsies, a brilliant shot after terrific retrieving, and that\u2019s the break back at 4-2 in the first.<\/p>\n Coco Gauff of United States plays a forehand. Photograph: Matthew Stockman\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.56 EDT<\/p>\n OK, that makes a bit more sense. Sinner is a consummate athlete and, unlike Alcaraz, when the cramp did him against Djokovic in the 2023 semi, he wasn\u2019t under any kind of pressure \u2013 quite the reverse. So it was shocking to see him suffer so much when, for example, Kouame and Vallejo, two much younger men far less used to going the distance, played for nearly five hours; that he was ill explains things.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Aha, I\u2019ve not seen Sinner\u2019s press conference quotations yet, but here he is now, explaining that he felt very low on energy. He tried to serve out the third, the fourth he kind of let go to preserve energy for the fifth, and the first game was very important but he couldn\u2019t hold, then it \u201cwent downwards\u201d.<\/p>\n Whewn he woke up this morning, he didn\u2019t feel very well, so he tried to keep the points short and was hitting \u201cvery clean, very well\u201d, but then \u201cI just kind of hit the wall and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Gosh, Sakkari is now up 5-2 in the third against Liu, and after a tremendous win over Noskova in round one, she\u2019s making decent progress \u2013 more so than on occasions when she was seeded in the top 10, And, with Chwalinska awaiting the winner in the next round, she\u2019ll fancy her chances of progressing from there, should she make it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Back on Lenglen, Sherif has broken Gauff back for 2-3 in the first, and she\u2019s playing nicely here. But can she maintain her level?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Auger-Aliassime is under some pressure here. I\u2019ve said this before, but Coach Calv Betton, a great friend of the blog, turned me on to him well before he broke through, sating he was the mover he\u2019d ever seen on a tennis court. Since then, though, he\u2019s barely improved and hasn\u2019t got close to winning a major; well, this is his chance, and it\u2019s one he might never get again. Does he have the drive and cruelty necessary to impose himself on the field? He leads 1-1 2-1 on serve.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Thanks Dom and hi again all. On Chatrier, Sabalekna and Jacquemot are almost ready to get going \u2013 I\u2019m watching them, along with Gauff 3-1 Sherif and Auger-Aliassime 4-6 6-0 1-1 Burruchaga.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Right, with Coco Gauff<\/a> 3-1 up in the first set of her match against Sherif, Daniel Harris is back in the hot-seat.<\/p>\n Things are hotting up, quite literally.<\/p>\n