Life is so funny. We went from Day 4 at Roland Garros being a dud to Day 5 being a big hit.
Five feels like the magic number. There were several five-set thrillers involving the likes of wonderkid Moïse Kouame, a locked-in Frances Tiafoe and world No 1 Jannik Sinner. Kouame and Tiafoe won their matches but Sinner, last year’s runner-up, crashed out. The younger Cerúndolo brother, Juan Manuel took down the Italian in the sweltering heat in front of a stunned Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd.
The other significant five, No 5 seed Ben Shelton, bowed out to an inspired Belgian debutant.
Ben Shelton
The American No 1 was seen as a genuine contender prior to the event with good reason. Ranking aside – currently at his career high of No 5 – Shelton is accomplished on clay even though it is not his favourite surface. Two of the 23-year-old American’s five titles are clay-court crowns – Houston in 2024 and Munich in 2026. Shelton knows how to play on the red stuff. However, on Thursday he met Raphael Collignon, the 24-year-old Belgian who was simply just more solid on the day. World No 62 Collignon was playing top-10 tennis, dominating on serve (didn’t face a single break point) and taking his opportunities in return games (broke serve three times) en route to closing out the match in straight sets – 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. Some days you just have to say “too good”.