French Open news: Tennis duo gang up on Novak Djokovic as Iga Swiatek shows true colours

That's all we've got time for tonight.

Thanks for joining us to follow another entertaining day at the French Open, with more thrilling action set to take place at Roland Garros tomorrow.

We'll leave you with a comprehensive round-up of the day's biggest stories, which you can find HERE.

Catch you in the morning!

Carlos Alcaraz is into the fourth round of the French Open after securing a hard-fought victory over Sebastian Korda.

The young Spaniard was made to work hard for the result, with the decisive moment coming when he edged a crucial tiebreak at the end of the second set.

In his post-match interview, Alcaraz said: "I feel amazing. I feel great playing on this court. Obviously I have great memories playing here. Great matches I’ve played before.

"I’m feeling better and better every match I play. The crowd was amazing. Every day it’s even better. It’s amazing to play in front of all of you. I’m excited to play in the second week in Paris again. Hopefully I’ll keep going."

Andy Murray has revealed that he is likely to team up with his brother Jamie to play doubles at Wimbledon unless the seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion finds a 'good partner'.

The Scottish siblings led Great Britain to a Davis Cup triumph nine years ago but have not played together since 2019.

Asked if he will play doubles at Wimbledon, Andy said: "I may do, yeah. I'm not 100 per cent sure yet.

"My brother doesn't have a partner for Wimbledon currently. We have spoken a little bit about it, so we may do that, but not 100 per cent sure yet.

"We will make a decision ahead of time. I mean obviously Jamie, he could also get a good partner as well. We'll see what happens, but yeah, we'll probably decide in the next few days."

Carlos Alcaraz has made a strong start to his match against Sebastian Korda, with the Spaniard taking the opening set.

He is currently leading by three games to two in the second set and is firmly on course to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros.

Corentin Moutet is a set up against Sebastian Ofner but faces a battle to double his advantage with the second set locked at four games each.

Ben Shelton is currently a game behind in the first set of his match against Felix Auger-Aliassime, which has been suspended due to rain on the outdoor courts.

Andrey Rublev has apologised for the on-court outburst which saw his frustrations boil over during his surprise defeat to Matteo Arnaldi earlier today.

The Russian screamed at his box, smashed his racket, kicked his bench and repeatedly smacked himself in the knee before reflecting on his meltdown after the match.

"Completely disappointed with myself the way I behaved, the way I performed, and I don't remember behaving worse on a Slam ever," said Rublev.

"I think it was first time I ever behave that bad. Not much to say."

Stefanos Tsitsipas is into the fourth round of the French Open after easing to a comfortable win over Zhang Zhizhen.

The Greek hopeful, who reached the final at Roland Garros in 2021, turned on the style to claim a 6-3 6-3 6-1 win over his Chinese opponent.

Tsitsipas is still waiting for his first Grand Slam title and will be hoping to build on today's performance when it comes to going deep into this year's tournament.

The all-British wildcard pairing of Andy Murray and Dan Evans have been beaten by Thiago Seyboth Wild and Sebastian Baez.

The latter duo wrapped up a 7-6 7-6 victory a few moments ago to send Murray and Evans back across the Channel in the first round.

Elsewhere at Roland Garros, the match between Zizou Bergs and Grigor Dimitrov on Court 14 has been suspended due to rain, which is becoming a regular occurrence this year.

Iga Swiatek has just beaten Marie Bouzkova in straight sets to maintain her hopes of sealing French Open glory.

The gulf in class between the two players was clear to see as Swiatek maintained the upper hand throughout.

She will face Anastasia Potapova in the next round.

Iga Swiatek is a set up against Marie Bouzkova and looks likely to book her place in the fourth round of the women's tournament.

Ons Jabeur is already there, having beaten Leylah Fernandez in straight sets on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Coco Gauff and Marketa Vondrousova have also recorded wins over Dayana Yastremska and Chloe Paquet respectively.

In the men's tournament, Hubert Hurkacz has made a fast start against Denis Shapovalov and currently leads by three games to one in the first set.

John McEnroe believes Novak Djokovic does not need to appoint a full-time coach despite the Serb adding Boris Bosnjakovic to his support team for the French Open.

Speaking to Eurosport, McEnroe said: "As far as him needing a coach, I think that’s laughable. As far as him needing someone to tell him what he’s doing on the court, I don’t buy that.

"If he wants someone around, that’s perfectly fine. It’s worked amazingly well as no one in their wildest dreams thought he’d win 24 [Grand Slam titles].

"I remember seeing him playing against Gael Monfils when they were both young and he won that match in five. I thought to myself ‘that kid Djokovic has got some guts’, but if you told me then he would win 24 Grand Slams, I’d have said you were mad.

"Now he is trying to win more and these first two rounds were a really good draw for him. Two guys that didn’t have a prayer to beat him. Let’s see how it goes when it gets tougher.

"Djokovic looks good. There were a few times when he was breathing hard and a few times it looked like he was going to fall over, but for the large there was no issue."

Jannik Sinner is safely through to round four of the French Open after beating Pavel Kotov in straight sets.

The Italian was the heavy favourite going into the match and did not disappoint as he cruised to a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory.

It comes after Andrey Rublev was knocked out in a surprise defeat to Matteo Arnaldi in the biggest shock at Roland Garros so far.

Play on the outside courts has been restricted by the rain today, but on Philippe-Chatrier, Jannik Sinner has raced into a two-set lead over Pavel Kotov.

Andrey Rublev, meanwhile, suffered a surprise defeat to the unseeded Italian, Matteo Arnaldi.

On the women's side of the draw, Wang Xinyu was 4-0 up in the first set against Anastasia Popatova before play was suspended.

Stay tuned, however, as there are plenty more matches still to come.

Novak Djokovic has shed light on his rivalry with Rafael Nadal, the 'frustration' the Spaniard caused him on clay and how that moulded him into a better player.

Djokovic is into the third round of the French Open but he admitted he is finding it increasingly difficult to stay motivated in the modern game.

Of the big three, Djokovic is still going strong but Roger Federer is retired and Nadal has been plagued by injury issues in recent years.

"[Nadal] has been the greatest rival that I ever had," Djokovic said. "Matches against him on clay have frustrated me so much in my career, but they also made me a better player, made me understand what it takes to try to surpass him; try to win at least once or twice at Roland Garros.

"It’s the highest mountain to climb for me to win Roland Garros, particularly because of Nadal, because I always have to win against him in order to get to the title. We had some really fantastic matches here."

Bad weather continues to cause chaos at the French Open, and for the first time on Friday, play has stopped on the outside courts.

The stadiums have also taken a break to close their roofs, with competitors forced into a painful wait before resuming their matches.

So far today, Jannik Sinner is a break up in the first set against Pavel Kotov, and Andrey Rublev trails Matteo Arnaldi.

On the women's side of the draw; Coco Gauff, Olga Danilovic and Elisabetta Cocciaretto have won their third-round matches.

Alexander Zverev's trial was swiftly adjourned at the Tiergarten District Court in Berlin on Friday following a request from his defence team to continue proceedings behind closed doors.

The world No 4 was issued with a penalty order and a fine totalling £385k last year after allegations of assault against his former girlfriend. He was accused of 'physically abusing a woman and damaging her health as part of an argument'.

The case returned to the Berlin criminal court due to Zverev challenging the penalty order and the fine, relating to an alleged incident in May 2020 involving his ex-girlfriend.

On Friday, the two sides laid out their arguments before the adjournment. Zverev's camp are set to learn whether their behind-closed-doors request has been approved on Monday.

Zverev denies the allegations brought against him.

Arthur Rinderknech was left embarrassed when he was forced to retire from the French Open after injuring himself when he angrily kicked the side of the court.

The Frenchman led Tomas Etcheverry by two sets but the 28th seed started to mount a comeback and took the second 6-1.

Rinderknech kicked out in frustration while he was a break down in the fourth and needed to see the physio, ultimately abandoning the match because of the injury it caused. He is now concerned that he has broken his toe.

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Holger Rune has revealed that the memory of a Roger Federer match inspired him to a white-knuckle victory over Flavio Cobolli at the French Open.

The pair went to a fifth-set tiebreak on Thursday, with Rune coming back from 5-0 down to win the match.

"All of a sudden, it came into my mind a match when Roger played Tennys Sandgren at the Australian Open," Rune explained.

"He won in five-set match tiebreak as well, and Sandgren had many chances. It was kind of in my mind. I don’t know how it appeared, it just did."

Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti are launching a two-pronged attack to knock Novak Djokovic off the top of the ATP world rankings.

World No 2 Sinner is hunting Djokovic down himself, and he could receive help from his countryman, Musetti, who faces Djokovic in the third round of the French Open.

Speaking ahead of the match, Musetti claims that he has extra motivation as a victory would help Sinner on his quest to top the rankings.

"Against Djokovic I will also try to help Sinner for No 1," the Italian told Eurosport. "I wish him not to place his hopes on me. He has his own path I think it is already well written but if I can give him a hand, even a little. Patriotism doesn't hurt."

Former world No 2 Paula Badosa has already jumped up 24 spots in the live WTA rankings due to her promising run at the French Open.

The Spaniard beat Katie Boulter in round one and Yulia Putintseva in round two, setting up a blockbuster meeting with Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday.

Injuries issues previously saw Badosa tumble down the women's world rankings.

The fact she skipped Roland Garros last year means this year's string of victories has already seen her jump from 139th in the world to 115th as things stand.

And things could get even better if she defies the odds to beat Sabalenka this weekend.

French Open competitors have rallied behind tournament director Amelie Mauresmo after she banned raucous fans from consuming alcohol in the stands.

David Goffin, who complained about one spectator spitting chewing gum at him earlier this week, said: "I think crowd behaviour has changed, especially the last few years. After my last match, I was surprised how many players and coaches came to me and said: ‘What you said is great, I agree.’ Hopefully it's good what Amelie did because if they continue like that, you never know."

24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic added: "They are very passionate fans. It's part of sports. You want a good atmosphere. It's a fine line when that line is passed and when it starts becoming disrespectful towards the player."

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Iga Swiatek is often accused of being robot-like in her tournament victories, having won four Grand Slam titles in the last four years and risen to the top of the women's world rankings.

But that certainly wasn't the case on Thursday, as cameras caught her bursting into tears after a taxing comeback win over Naomi Osaka.

Swiatek was on the verge of defeat before surging in the third set and prevailing 7-6 1-6 7-5. Her emotions took over as she rested after the match.

Responding to the video, former US Open champion Andy Roddick wrote on X: "Try to tell me Iga doesn’t care. This was a second round match at a tournament she’s already won three times. This is sports. You fight, you survive, and then you become human again. Rinse, repeat. This woman is a champion….. and a human."

Hello and welcome to Express Sport's French Open LIVE!

Another day of intriguing action in the men's and women's draws awaits at Roland Garros, and we'll keep you up to date with all the important bits.

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