Day 6 - Match of the day session: Power struggle

They have played five times with Rybakina winning the last three, including their only clay court encounter two years ago in the Rome semi-finals. Not that she is taking much comfort from that.

“She’s a dangerous opponent,” Rybakina said. “She hits the ball really hard. She can be very aggressive. So I will definitely need to focus a lot on my serve, be focused, be solid, patient, take the chances when I get them.

Order of Play for Day 6

“If I serve well, I have a good placement, it's not easy to return no matter who's on the other side. But definitely she has some good shots which, even if you serve well, it can be tough because she can return really well.”

And if you thought that you were beginning to get a feel for who might be the favourite just remember this: they have both won only one title this year, both on clay, with Ostapenko winning the WTA 500 in Stuttgart last month and Rybakina winning the WTA 500 in Strasbourg last week.

Best buckle up – this could be a long but fascinating Friday afternoon.

Three to watch on Friday

Court Philippe-Chatrier, first match
Aryna Sabalenka [1] v Olga Danilovic

We know all about Aryna Sabalenka’s power – and many of those in the locker room dread it – but the world No.1 is trying to add more to her armoury than that. Her new weapon of choice is slice and, so far, it is serving her well. “I want to be a complete player,” she announced after her last match. “I want to have all of the tools and I want to bring variety on court and be kind of like an unreadable player.”

That will bring joy to the heart of Olga Danilovic, the world No.34 from Serbia. They last played in 2018 (Aryna won) but neither is paying too much attention to that. “We are completely different players now,” Sabalenka said. “She's a lefty. I think she plays really flat and fast and serves well. I saw her matches in Madrid this year, a little bit in Rome, and I can say that she's playing great tennis.” And then Sabalenka added the killer blow: “So am I.”

Court Suzanne-Lenglen, fourth match
Frances Tiafoe (15) v Sebastian Korda (23)

The likeable Frances Tiafoe – known as Big Foe – is on a mission: he wants to get back into the world’s top 10 (he was last a member of that club in 2023) and, seemingly, he will do anything to get back there. But, while he professes to like playing on clay, his best Grand Slam results have come on hard courts (two US Open semi-finals) so he knows he has work to do on the red stuff.

So it was that he finished runner-up on clay in Houston at the beginning of April, jumped on the first of three flights to get himself to Nice followed by an hour’s drive to get to Monte Carlo on a Tuesday morning. That afternoon, he played and won his opening match. And all to get himself ready for Roland-Garros. Was it worth the effort? “Winning matches is huge,” he said. Whether he can win another against Sebastian Korda is in the balance: their rivalry stands at 3-3 with 'Sebi' winning the last three.

Court Simonne-Mathieu, first match
Zheng Qinwen (8) v Victoria Mboko (Q)

Three years ago, Victoria Mboko was one of the young names to watch as she built a stellar junior career. Aged just 15, she was the Wimbledon junior singles semi-finalist and doubles finalist. But while she was racking up the results, she was playing through constant pain in her left knee. That halted her progress for a while but this year she is fit and loving life on tour. Her win-loss record for the season, including this week, is 42-5 at all levels. And she went on a 22-match unbeaten streak in the ITF level events at the start of the year.

All of this bodes very well for the future but back in the present, the prospect of taking on the No.8 seed Zheng Qinwen is still daunting. But pity her poor agent, Marijn Bal: he represents both Mboko and Zheng and promised that he would be keeping a low profile in the darkest corner of the stands as his two charges do battle.