French Open: Musetti rides new-found grit into third round, Rune advances in five sets

Italian star Lorenzo Musetti passed his first test at the French Open this year on Friday as he rallied from a set and a break down to move past Mariano Navone into the fourth round and match his best result at the clay-court major. Musetti defeated Na-vone 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to move into the Round of 16.
The eighth-seeded Italian trailed Navone 4-6, 0-2 but fought back brilliantly to beat the Ar-gentine, who has reached tour-level finals on clay in Rio de Janeiro and Bucharest. However, this season, the 23-year-old Musetti is playing with a newfound grit and resilience. The 2024 Olympic bronze medallist started to find his range off the backhand wing and used his slice and heavy forehand to force Navone out of his comfort zone and turn the tables in hot conditions. Now 17-3 on clay in 2025, the Italian will aim to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time when he takes on 10th seed Holger Rune. On Court Philippe-Chatrier, Rune rallied back from the brink to overcome Frenchman Quentin Halys 4-6, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 and reach the fourth round in Paris for the fourth con-secutive year. Rune, who lifted the title on clay at the ATP 500 in Barcelona in April, will take a 2-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head lead into his meeting with Musetti.
Swiatek survives second-set scare to extend reign to 24 wins
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek was pushed to the edge but emerged victorious yet again at the Ro-land Garros. The three-time defending champion defeated Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 6-2, 7-5 to reach the fourth round of the French Open for the seventh straight year, extending her unbeaten streak at the clay-court Grand Slam to 24 matches.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Swiatek. After breezing through the first set in 39 minutes without facing a single break point, the Pole found herself in a gritty second-set battle against an inspired Cristian, who recently reached the Rabat final and brought that confi-dence to Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The victory keeps Swiatek on track to equal Monica Seles’ record of 25 consecutive wins at the French Open in the Open Era. To tie that mark, she will have to overcome a formidable challenge in the fourth round — either 2022 Wimbledon champion and 12th seed Elena Rybakina or the 2017 Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko.
If it’s Ostapenko, history won’t be in Swiatek’s favour: she has a surprising 0-6 head-to-head record against the Latvian.