News, photos and live updates from Roland-Garros 2025 on Day 5 of Opening Week
©Cédric Lecocq / FFTWith Qualifying over, we'll say goodnight from Paris... but we'll be back tomorrow to cover the annual charity day - Yannick Noah Day - when Roland-Garros will take on a carnival atmosphere as the players continue to prepare for the first main draw matches on Sunday. Thanks for joining us today and we'll see you at 11am on Saturday...
18:23The fifth and final day of Qualifying comes to an end with wins for Portugal's Henrique Rocha and Germany's Yannick Hanfmann. The pair both dashed French hopes late on Friday with Rocha edging past Luca Van Assche 6-3, 6-7(1), 7-5 while Hanfmann outlasted Titouan Droguet 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Hanfmann focused on getting back to his best
They become the 31st and 32nd players to make it into the main draw, bringing the curtain down on what has been an enthralling and absorbing five days of tennis. Main draw action starts on Sunday.
17:43One of the more surprising results of the day came from South African Lloyd Harris who took out former world No.3 Marin Cilic 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on Friday to move into the main draw.
Former US Open quarterfinalist Harris talked about the physical challenges he's faced over recent years earlier this week and how simply being fit again is a victory in itself. Read Alex Sharp's piece below ⬇️
17:28The top seed is in Paris for the first time and only the trophy will do for this triple major champion. Read Dan Imhoff's article here.
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFT 16:15Main draw players continue to stream through the press rooms during media day. Here are a few soundbites from some familiar names...
Alex De Minaur on his fiancé Katie Boulter's recent clay court title: "Looks like I'm going to have to ask her a couple tips here and there. She's officially the clay specialist in the relationship now."
Arthur Fils on Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League final on Saturday May 31: "This is a really big final, and I'm going to look at it in my room. But I'm not going to lose any energy with that. I hope not!"
Aryna Sabalenka on the pressure of being world No.1: "Honestly, I just love it so much because, just for me personally, knowing that there is someone chasing me or I'm, like, 'I have a target on my back right now,' I love it. I take it as a challenge."
Stan Wawrinka's message to the soon-to-retire Richard Gasquet: "If I were to say anything, it would be congratulations on your career, congratulations on your results. Tennis fans have been very lucky to witness his game."
15:48Look out for some fabulous imagery from the FFT team roaming the grounds over the next two-and-a-bit weeks. They're a fun-loving, hard-working squad of experts in their field that bring the Paris major to life with some truly stunning photography.
Here's one of our favourites so far - Czech teenager Sara Bejlek at full stretch on her way to qualifying earlier today. This image was caught by André Ferreira during the 19-year-old's win over Yuliia Starodubtseva on Court 7.
©André Ferreira / FFT 15:17 14:34We can welcome another teenager into the main draw after 18-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko beat Slovenia's Kaja Juvan 7-5 6-3 on Court 12. The youngster qualified without dropping a set over three matches and will be one to watch when main draw tennis starts on Sunday. Dan Imhoff sat down with the world No.122 ahead of what will be her Grand Slam debut in Paris.
14:29Big news from Court 9 where Benjamin Hassan has become just the second Lebanese player in the Open Era to qualify for a Grand Slam men’s singles main draw, after Hady Habib in Melbourne this year. Hassan beat Japan's James Trotter 6-2 7-6(5) to book his spot in the main draw.
A marathon first match on Court Suzanne-Lenglen has come to an end and it's Aussie Daria Saville who can finally celebrate after she outlasted American sixth seed Taylor Townsend 2-6 6-2 6-4.
Juan Manuel Cerundolo continued Argentina's success on Friday by outplaying Daniel Galan in straight sets. He joins big brother Francisco in the 128-player RG field.
14:08Earlier today, France's Caroline Garcia announced that this will be her last Roland-Garros. Taking in her quarter-final appearance in 2017 and women's doubles titles in 2016 and 2022, this gallery charts the most memorable moments of 'Flying Caro' on the Parisian clay 📷
©Cédric Lecocq / FFT 13:15New world No.5 Jack Draper is one of the first in front of the press on media day and talked about his expectations coming into the French major. The Brit has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last 12 months, but has never won a match at Roland-Garros in two visits. He expects that to change over the next few days.
"I think with the way I'm playing, the fact that I've really improved a lot recently and my ranking is going up and I feel confident, I think there's a good chance I can do really well," said the recent clay-court Madrid Masters runner-up. "I'm looking forward to that challenge."
12:55It's a fabulous day to walk the RG grounds in the Paris sunshine. There are superstars galore going through training drills on Chatrier throughout Friday, and also some of the smaller courts today too with fewer qualifying matches taking place. As I walked to the FFT office this morning, I passed Ons Jabeur grooving her slice backhand on Court 10, while later Carlos Alcaraz was attracting crowds on Court 5 just a few yards from Victoria Azarenka and 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys playing a practice set. Four-time champ Iga Swiatek has been hitting under blue skies too.
©Clément Mahoudeau / FFT 12:40We have our first qualifiers of the day. Remember, ten players made it through third round qualies matches yesterday - this group joins them in the main draw, which starts Sunday.
Italy's Giulio Zeppieri was the first through when he beat Argentine Federico Gomez 6-1 6-4 in under an hour.
Czech teenager Sara Bejlek took out the women's top seed Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-0 6-4. The scoreline doesn't tell the whole story, however. Bejlek, just 19 years old, missed five match points when she led 6-0 5-1, but finally sealed it on her 7th chance later in the set.
Ninth seed Solana Sierra comfortably beat China's Wang Xiyu, and fellow Argentine Maria Lourdes Carle is also through after she got past Lithuania's Justina Mikulskyte.
German Max Marterer and Austrian Filip Misolic join the main draw party. Misolic took out second seed Alexander Shevchenko in straight sets.
12:10RG is buzzing right now. We have perfect weather to enjoy today - pleasantly warm in the sun and for the players on court there isn't a breath of wind. Qualifying matches are now well under way, the spare match courts are jammed with big names putting in the hard yards ahead of Day 1 on Sunday and there are plenty of familiar faces moving through the RG media centre being grilled by the world's journos.
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFT 11:43There was excitement on Thursday with the announcement of the men’s and women’s singles.
Chris Oddo gave us an overview of the men’s draw and then took a deep dive to pick five of the best matches in the first round.
Dan Imhoff gave us his take on the women’s draw, while Alex Sharp picked his five first round matches that will have you reaching for the popcorn.
The men’s and women’s qualifying competition continued on Thursday with slots in the men’s and women’s main draw starting to fill up. Dan Imhoff chatted to Canada’s Victoria Mboko, whose talent has caught the eye of world No.2 Coco Gauff, and Lloyd Harris told Alex Sharp about his return to tennis following back surgery.
And interviews from the Roland-Garros Magazine gave us an insight into two players heading into the tournament with different emotions: Carlos Alcaraz spoke about coming to Paris as defending champion, while a soon-to-retire Richard Gasquet talked about his love for the tournament he first competed in back in 2002.
In her daily preview, Alix Ramsay looked ahead to the action on Friday’s final day of qualifying.
11:22There was some big news in French tennis early this morning when Caroline Garcia announced that this year's Roland-Garros will be her last. The former world No.4 broke the news on social media this morning.
Caroline Garcia - last stop in Paris
"After 15 years competing at the highest level, and more than 25 years investing pretty much every second of my life into it, I feel ready to start a new chapter,” the 31-year-old wrote.
Garcia is yet to confirm where she will end her career, but her 14th and final Roland-Garros appearance will be her last visit to the Paris major during what are sure to be an emotional few days for the right-hander.
©Loïc Wacziak / FFT 10:30Good morning from Paris on a sunny fifth day of Opening Week when we’ll wrap up the last of the qualifying matches by this evening.
Ten players - five women and five men - secured spots in the main draw after third round wins on Thursday and by the end of play today another 22 will have joined them.
We have 11 women’s third round matches and 11 in the men’s draw with all eight match courts kicking off at 11am local time.
As well as the ‘qualies’ to keep us entertained, the superstars and top seeds go in front of the cameras today during Roland-Garros media day. The first round starts Sunday.
We’ll bring you all the best quotes, big stories and up-to-the-minute news as the players meet the press.
Madison Keys, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Jasmine Paolini, Arthur Fils, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Richard Gasquet, Coco Gauff, Mirra Andreeva and Alexander Zverev are among those making an appearance in the press conference rooms today.
Stay tuned...
ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFT
©Cédric Lecocq / FFT
©️Clément Mahoudeau / FFT
©Cédric Lecocq / FFT
©Clément Mahoudeau / FFT