分类： sports

The 2025 French Open enters its second week with a historic matchup headlining the schedule on Monday, as two of women’s tennis biggest superstars Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka will meet in the first women’s night match held at Roland Garros in three years. This clash marks their third meeting of 2025 and the fourth encounter of their professional careers, with every past match between the two four-time Grand Slam champions coming at the round of 16 stage.

World No. 1 Sabalenka comes into the match chasing her first ever French Open title, a goal that fell just one win short last year when she suffered a heartbreaking final defeat to Coco Gauff. The Belarusian top seed is under no illusions about the test Osaka will bring, praising the Japanese star for her impressive resurgence after stepping away from the tour in 2023 to welcome her first child.

“It’s great, great to see her back on her level. Maybe not at her best level, but she’s back, she’s fighting, she’s building her level,” Sabalenka said of her upcoming opponent. “It’s nice to see her. She’s a great player, great person. I feel like I really enjoy our battles. It’s high-level matches, and I really enjoy when somebody pushes me to the limit.”

For Osaka, this run to the round of 16 is already a career-first at Roland Garros, marking a remarkable comeback from her maternity break and proving she has found far more comfort on the Paris clay than ever before. Osaka, who claimed four Grand Slam singles titles before her pause from the sport, took time to rediscover her form after rejoining the tour, but broke through with a US Open semi-final run last year — her first trip to the second week of a major since winning the 2021 Australian Open.

The 26-year-old has set clear goals for her 2025 clay and grass court swing, and is not planning to end her run in Paris on Monday. “I really wanted to make it a goal to do really well on clay and grass. I don’t want this to be my last round. I want to keep going. I just want to keep focusing on every match,” Osaka said.

The winner of Monday’s marquee matchup will advance to the quarter-finals, where they will face either former Australian Open champion Madison Keys or Russian rising star Diana Shnaider. Beyond the headline clash, several other women’s matches will unfold on Monday’s schedule: the last remaining home hope Diane Parry will aim to replicate last year’s surprise semi-final run from fellow French wildcard Lois Boisson when she faces Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska, while 28th seed Anastasia Potapova of Austria will look to build on her upset victory over defending champion Coco Gauff against Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya.

The men’s draw has been turned upside down ahead of round of 16 play, with the top half left wide open after the shock early exit of world No. 2 Jannik Sinner and an opening round defeat for young American star Ben Shelton. That leaves world No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada as the highest-ranked player remaining in that section of the draw, and he will bid to reach his first ever French Open quarter-final against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo — who is competing in his first ever Grand Slam round of 16.

The open draw has opened unexpected opportunities for lower-ranked players, including American world No. 85 Zachary Svajda, who had only won two Grand Slam matches total before this tournament. When asked about Sinner’s exit opening up the draw, Svajda said he is focusing on one match at a time against Italian 10th seed Flavio Cobolli. “When I saw Sinner was out, I try to stay present and stay positive and just take it day by day, match by match,” he said. “I knew the draw was open, but I just tried to keep doing my routines, keep doing what I’ve been doing, and just see what happens.”

Other notable men’s matches on Monday include a showdown between former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini and Sinner’s conqueror Juan Manuel Cerundolo, with the Italian targeting his first Grand Slam quarter-final appearance since 2022. American big-hitter Frances Tiafoe, who reached the French Open quarter-finals last year, will take on rising Italian talent Matteo Arnaldi.

In a historic milestone for professional road cycling, Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard secured overall victory at the 2025 Giro d’Italia on Sunday, capping off a dominant three-week race and cementing his place as one of the sport’s all-time greats by completing the rare sweep of cycling’s three Grand Tours. The final stage of the race, which concluded on the sunlit streets of central Rome, delivered a hometown fairytale for Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan, who claimed a dramatic stage win with a late powerful burst, but the day belonged entirely to Vingegaard, who rolled into the capital draped in the Giro’s iconic pink leader’s jersey to claim his first overall title at the Italian race.

With Sunday’s result, Vingegaard adds the Giro crown to his back-to-back Tour de France titles in 2022 and 2023, and his 2025 Vuelta a Espana victory, completing the sport’s coveted Triple Crown of three-week Grand Tours. This achievement makes him the only active rider in the world to hold wins at all three events, and just the eighth male rider in the entire 100-plus year history of professional cycling to reach the mark, joining legendary figures including Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Italy’s own Vincenzo Nibali.

Slovenian cycling star Tadej Pogacar, Vingegaard’s long-time rival, has claimed four Tour de France titles and one Giro d’Italia victory to his name, but has yet to add a Vuelta win to his resume, leaving the Triple Crown out of his reach for now.

Speaking to Italian public broadcaster RAI after crossing the finish line, an emotional Vingegaard reflected on the unprecedented achievement. “Winning all three is very special for me, it’s difficult to find the words to describe it,” the Visma–Lease a Bike rider said. Following the victory, Vingegaard plans to stay in Rome for several days to celebrate with his family before returning to his native Denmark to begin preparations for the 2025 Tour de France, which kicks off on July 4, where he is set to face off once again against Pogacar in cycling’s most high-profile showdown.

Vingegaard noted that his fitness remains strong despite the grueling three-week Giro, a positive sign for his Tour prospects. “If you’re completely exhausted and need two weeks of rest afterwards, it’s not ideal. But I’m not completely exhausted,” he explained. Richard Plugge, general manager of the Visma–Lease a Bike team, expressed full confidence in his rider’s ability to contend for another yellow jersey in July. “Jonas is getting even stronger after this. We planned it so that he will be at his peak in the Tour de France, so we’re looking forward to that fight,” Plugge said, describing the squad as a “yellow jersey organization” focused on Tour victory.

Vingegaard’s victory at this year’s Giro was defined by utter dominance. With Pogacar not competing in the race, the Danish rider faced no serious challenges to his lead throughout the three weeks, wrapping up the overall title with a commanding mountain stage victory on Saturday that sealed his advantage before the processional final stage into Rome. He finished the general classification with five individual stage wins, and an unrivaled 5 minute 22 second gap over second-place Austrian rider Felix Gall. 2022 Giro champion Jai Hindley of Australia rounded out the overall podium in third.

In the race’s other classification awards, Portugal’s Afonso Eulalio claimed the white jersey for the best young rider, after holding the overall pink leader’s jersey for eight consecutive stages following a breakout performance on a rain-soaked fifth stage. Italian veteran Giulio Ciccone won the mountains classification, while young French sprinter Paul Magnier claimed the points classification sprint jersey thanks to three stage wins throughout the race.

For Milan, the final stage win marked a satisfying redemption for his Giro campaign. The home favorite had come close to stage victories multiple times throughout the race but had failed to cross the line first until Sunday, when he outsprinted compatriot Giovanni Lonardi and France’s Paul Penhoet to take the win on home soil. “I’m pleased to have finished my Giro this way,” Milan told RAI. “It’s important in terms of just winning something. It wasn’t easy always being close but not quite getting there.” Milan finished the points classification 47 points behind winner Magnier.

Paris welcomed Paris Saint-Germain’s football squad with a jubilant hero’s parade on Sunday, as the team marked its second consecutive UEFA Champions League title. The celebration, however, unfolded against a backdrop of bitter political finger-pointing, coming 24 hours after widespread rioting across France left one person dead, hundreds injured, and hundreds more arrested in post-victory unrest.

The victory was sealed in Budapest on Saturday night, where PSG defeated English Premier League side Arsenal 4-3 in a tense penalty shootout. On their return to the French capital, the squad traveled in an open-top parade from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the Champ de Mars, the sprawling public plaza situated at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Tens of thousands of flag-waving, chanting supporters lined the route to catch a glimpse of their champions. Before the public parade, the team was received in an official audience by President Emmanuel Macron, and later made a stop at their home ground, Parc des Princes, to greet fans before the main event.

The night of celebration turned violent, however, as clashes erupted between young rioters and police officers across Paris and multiple other French cities. The unrest left a trail of destruction: cars set ablaze, storefronts looted, and public infrastructure damaged across 15 cities nationwide. A 57-year-old motorcyclist died in a celebratory crash on Paris’ peripheral ring road, while authorities also recorded multiple stabbings and violent assaults. Official injury counts put the total at 57 police officers and 219 rioters or participants hurt, with eight people remaining in critical condition Sunday morning.

By Sunday morning, municipal crews worked frantically to clear shattered glass, destroyed bus shelters, discarded trash and burned-out vehicles from Paris’ central streets ahead of the planned parade. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that a total of 780 people had been arrested across France by Sunday morning — nearly 30 percent more arrests than followed PSG’s 2024 Champions League win over Inter Milan, which also sparked widespread post-victory disorder.

President Macron called the outbreak of violence “unspeakable”, but political leaders have clashed sharply over who bears responsibility for the unrest, and how it was handled. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire pushed back against claims of widespread chaos, noting that the vast majority of supporters celebrated peacefully, and that isolated incidents on the margins of major national celebrations are not a new phenomenon. Speaking to BFM TV, Gregoire argued that excessive media coverage and social media-fueled attention-seeking by troublemakers had amplified the unrest, creating a chain reaction of incitement that escalated tensions. “In the vast majority of cases, people celebrated with family and friends. And it was an extraordinary celebration. And incidents on the fringes of major events have been going on for centuries,” he said.

The local town hall overseeing the Champs-Élysées — where tens of thousands of fans gathered after the final whistle on Saturday — issued a scathing statement calling for future bans on large post-victory gatherings, claiming the iconic avenue “ceased to be a place of celebration and became an arena of urban guerrilla warfare” overnight.

Politicians from across the French political spectrum condemned the violence and questioned security planning. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote on social media platform X that “only in France does a football club’s victory spark riots”. Valerie Pecresse, head of the greater Paris regional council from the conservative Republicans party, slammed the “brainless thugs who allow themselves to destroy everything, tarnishing the image of Paris and France”, and demanded “exemplary sanctions” for those arrested. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the hard-left France Unbowed party criticized the national government’s planning and security management of the event, saying “We cannot be satisfied with the way last night’s event was managed and organised by the government.”

Despite the recriminations and the previous night’s violence, the official parade went ahead as planned, with Nunez deploying 6,000 police officers across central Paris to maintain order for the tens of thousands of supporters who turned out to celebrate. Fans packed into the Champ de Mars hours before the team arrived, with crowds so large that the squad’s arrival was delayed by more than an hour. When the players finally took to the stage, they paraded along a red, white and blue tricolor carpet as giant screens replayed the decisive penalty shootout that secured their historic back-to-back title.

For many fans, the joy of victory could not be dampened by the previous night’s chaos. “We’re still riding yesterday’s high, so we want to keep the party going,” said 25-year-old Abou, a PSG fan since childhood, as supporters chanted “Paris, Paris” while filtering through security checkpoints. Mirna Makima, a 39-year-old physiotherapist who traveled from Belgium to attend the celebrations, said: “It was great, there was the stress of the penalty shootout but it was good stress in the end.”

The 2025 Roland Garros entered its second week with a stunning upset that sent shockwaves through the clay-court Grand Slam, as four-time champion Iga Swiatek was eliminated from the tournament in a lopsided defeat to Marta Kostyuk. For the Polish star, the loss marked a disappointing end to her tournament on her 25th birthday, capping a difficult stretch of form that has seen her long-held dominance on clay erode over the past 12 months.

Swiatek, who entered the tournament as the world No. 3, took an early advantage in the opening set, breaking Kostyuk to move ahead 4-3. But from that point onward, her serve and overall rhythm completely collapsed. She never held another game, as the Ukrainian clay-court specialist clawed back to take the first set 7-5, then blazed through the second set 6-1 to secure a straight-sets victory. It is the furthest Kostyuk has ever advanced at Roland Garros, extending a career-best run through the clay-court season that already includes a WTA 250 title in Rouen and her first ever WTA 1000 crown at the Madrid Open.

In her post-match comments, Swiatek openly acknowledged the mental pressure that derailed her performance, admitting that stress management has been a persistent struggle for her over the past year. “I feel, like, for sure I lost today because Marta used the opportunity, and I was super tense,” the three-time Roland Garros winner said. “It is harder a bit to handle stress for me in the last year. So I feel like today I felt off, you know, and I did mistakes that I didn’t want to do, and I wanted to play safe, but the ball flew everywhere. Suddenly these feelings came back, and I tried to work on it with my dialogue inside, but it was tough today. Yeah, so it all kind of went drastically down, and I played worse and worse.”

The upset continues a trend of top seeds exiting the tournament early in the second week. Swiatek’s exit follows the end of her historic streak of consistent success at Roland Garros: since claiming her first French Open title in just her second appearance at the event back in 2020, she had never gone more than two seasons without lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. After Aryna Sabalenka ended her bid for a fourth consecutive title in the 2024 semi-finals, Swiatek has struggled to recapture her unbeatable form on clay, collecting just three tour-level titles in the two seasons since her last Paris championship.

Kostyuk will now face compatriot Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals, after Svitolina staged a comeback to beat 11th seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. Svitolina, the seventh seed, has reached the French Open quarter-finals five times before but has never advanced past that stage. Having claimed her first WTA 1000 title in eight years at the Italian Open last month, the upcoming match will pit the two champions of the biggest Roland Garros warm-up events against one another, guaranteeing a Ukrainian representative in the semi-finals. “It’s exciting. Definitely she’s been playing really well,” Svitolina said of Kostyuk, who has now won 15 consecutive matches on red clay. “I feel like it’s going to be an exciting battle for Ukraine, as well, you know, that there will be one Ukrainian in the semis. Yeah, I think it’s really cool.”

Elsewhere in the women’s draw, 36-year-old Romanian Sorana Cirstea is enjoying a dream final season on tour, rallying to continue her remarkable renaissance with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over China’s Wang Xiyu, ranked world No. 148. The result puts Cirstea into her first French Open quarter-final in 17 years, where she will face either Russian eighth seed Mirra Andreeva or Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann, ranked 170th in the world. Entering this final season, Cirstea said she wanted to exit the sport competing at a high level, but even she never expected this level of success. Currently sitting at a career-high WTA ranking of 18th, she said, “I came into my last year, wanted to go out the front door of the sport, wanting to really do well, but I didn’t really think it was going to go that well. In the same time it’s very beautiful. I’m very grateful for everything that’s happening.”

In the men’s draw, 19-year-old Spanish rising star Rafael Jodar pulled off a dramatic comeback in his debut Grand Slam campaign, fighting back from two sets down to defeat compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to book his spot in the quarter-finals. The five-set battle was interrupted by brief rain delays after the first week’s record heatwave gave way to wet conditions, extending an already lengthy match for the teen qualifier who has become accustomed to marathon clashes during his first run at Roland Garros.

Looking ahead to the day’s remaining matches, the two highest-profile remaining contenders in the bottom half of the men’s draw—both former Grand Slam finalists—will step onto court looking to secure their own quarter-final spots and keep their dreams of a first major title alive. Eighth seed Casper Ruud will face Brazilian young gun Joao Fonseca, while second seed Alexander Zverev will take on Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong.