2021 ROLAND GARROS DAY 2 MEN’S NOTES Monday 31 May 1st Round

Featured matches No. 2 Daniil Medvedev (RUS) v Alexander Bublik (KAZ) No. 8 Roger Federer (SUI) v (Q) Denis Istomin (UZB) No. 13 David Goffin (BEL) v Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) No. 15 Casper Ruud (NOR) v Benoit Paire (FRA) No. 18 Jannik Sinner (ITA) v Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) No. 30 Taylor Fritz (USA) v Joao Sousa (POR) No. 31 John Isner (USA) v Sam Querrey (USA) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) Marin Cilic (CRO) v (WC) Arthur Rinderknech (FRA) Kamil Majchrzak (POL) v (WC) Arthur Cazaux (FRA) On court today… • In the first men’s match of the day on Court Philippe-Chatrier, No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev aims for a first Roland Garros match-win on his 5th appearance here. In his way stands Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, who has been in good form so far this year, and plays here at a career-high ranking No. 37. Clay is not Medvedev’s preferred surface, with just 11 of his 179 Tour-level match-wins coming on ‘la terre battue’ – but, with no Grand Slam champions left in the bottom half of the draw after the early exit of Dominic Thiem on Sunday, the Russian will hope that he can play his way into form and challenge for the title here for the first time. • The 2nd men’s match on Chatrier sees the eagerly-anticipated return of Roger Federer, who is playing his first Grand Slam match since falling to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals at the Australian Open last year. Federer takes on Denis Istomin, who came through qualifying here, and the Swiss will aim to maintain both his unbeaten record against Istomin, having won all of their previous 7 meetings, and his near-perfect record against qualifiers at the Grand Slams. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has won 28 of his 29 meetings with qualifiers at the majors with his only defeat to a qualifier at a Grand Slam coming against Mario Ancic in the 1st round at 2002 Wimbledon. • Another player returning to Grand Slam action Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is up against Yoshihito Nishioka in the final match of the day on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Like Federer, Tsonga is making his first Grand Slam appearance since last year’s Australian Open, having missed the rest of the 2020 season due to a back injury. The Frenchman has won just one match since his return to the Tour at Montpellier this year, and he will face stiff opposition from Nishioka, who has reached back-to-back quarterfinals on clay at Lyon and Parma this month. • The future of Italian tennis will be on show at Roland Garros today, with Jannik Sinner playing Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Lenglen and Lorenzo Musetti facing No. 13 seed David Goffin on Court 14. Sinner impressed in his run to the quarterfinals here last year, where he put on a competitive display against eventual champion Rafael Nadal – and the 19-year-old has since won 2 Tour-level titles and broken the world’s Top 20. Musetti, meanwhile, is making his Grand Slam debut at this tournament, but he too has made rapid progress in recent months, rising from outside the world’s Top 250 in August last year to sit at No. 76 this week. Having won 4 of his previous 7 encounters with Top 20 players, Musetti will not be phased by a player of Goffin’s calibre.